Theora Hamblett (American/Mississippi, 1895-1977), "Red Rooster Atop the Chicken Coop", 1977, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, 16 in. x 19 7/8 in., framed, overall 16 11/16 in. x 20 5/8 in. x 1 3/8 in. Provenance: Acquired from the artist, 1977. Note: Renowned for her self-taught painting style, Theora Hamblett became one of Mississippi?s most celebrated and distinguished artists. Hamblett began her professional career late in life at the age of fifty-five, eschewing the abstract style popular at the time in favor of subjects more personal. Over the ensuing twenty-two years, she developed an extraordinary oeuvre that is as unique as it is powerful. Many of Hamblett?s paintings concentrated on her childhood memories, especially of the chicken farm in Paris, Mississippi where she spent her childhood. In nearly all her landscape paintings, she included animals or people, with the belief that those additions gave life to the scenes. She also painted many landscapes that featured children playing games to evoke a sense of nostalgia. After an accident which broke her hip and required surgery in 1954, Hamblett began to paint her dreams and visions, many with religious themes and elements. The same year, New York gallery owner and famous collector, Betty Parsons, discovered Hamblett's work and subsequently one of her paintings was included in a 1955 show of new acquisitions at the Museum of Modern Art. Hamblett?s paintings have two main hallmarks that set them apart ? pattern and color. Almost obsessively flat areas of color off-set by the equally flat subjects are in dramatic contrast to her distinctive and highly patterned trees. The effect of the foliage evokes movement, as each leaf is individually painted resulting in layers of color. Hamblett was a lifelong resident of Lafayette County in Mississippi, and upon her death in 1977, she willed most of her collection of paintings to the University of Mississippi, making them rare to the market today. Ref.: Hamblett, Theora. Theora Hamblett Paintings. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1975; ?Theora Hamblett." Greg Thompson Fine Art. www.gregthompsonfineart.com. Accessed May 2, 2024.

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