Lois Taylor Hunter, 2006 Oil on canvas Collection Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Gift of Dr. John Hunter and Dr. Harold Kooden, 2024.2.40G
My father’s family came to Detroit from the little town of Montezuma in south central Georgia. The painting is an imaginative recreation of the town which was strictly segregated by race with the railroad tracks separating blacks from whites who nevertheless came together on the main street that intersected the railroad tracks. My mother’s family came to Detroit from Hot Springs, Arkansas, a place, sadly, that I have never visited.
Memorials to Hunter and Owens Families
These nine paintings made in 2016 are memorials to deceased family members. My paternal grandfather, John Brewster Hunter, Senior; my paternal grandmother, Ethel Robinson Hunter; my father, John Brewster Hunter, Junior; my mother, Louise Helen Owens Hunter; my aunt and my mother’s sister, Doris Kathleen Owens; my maternal grandmother, Lena Farrell Owens; my aunt and father’s sister, Lois Hunter Taylor; my uncle and father’s brother, James William Hunter, and my aunt and wife of my uncle James, Dorothy Sykes Hunter.
Hunter and Owens Families
There are several paintings of individual members of my family as well as group portraits all based on photographs. The Cameo, 2006, shows my mother, Louise Owens Hunter, as a child and her mother, Lena Farrell Owens. The Green Bow Tie, 2006, is my paternal grandfather, John Brewster Hunter, Senior. Point Peleé, 2006, represents my father, John Brewster Hunter, Junior and my mother, Louise Helen Owens Hunter on an outing in Canada. Four Generations: Hunters, 2007, represents four generations of my paternal family; my great-great grandmother, Mazurie Hunter, my great grandmother, Mattie Hunter, my grandfather, John Hunter, Senior, and the artist as a child. The Purple Chair, 2006, presents my mother, Louise Helen Owens Hunter, and the artist as a child.
Thanksgiving, 1950, 2007
Thanksgiving 1950, 2007 Oil on canvas (polyptych) Collection Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Gift of Dr. John Hunter and Dr. Harold Kooden, 2024.2.35 A – G
This multi-panel painting is patterned after polyptychs found in European churches. It contains a central painting, based on a photograph, that shows the Hunter and Owens families at a Thanksgiving dinner in 1950 at the home of John and Ethel Hunter, Senior. From left to right: seated my aunt, Dorothy Sykes Hunter with her daughter, my cousin, Sharon Hunter; my mother, Louise Owens Hunter with the artist as a child; standing my aunt, Lois Hunter Taylor and my father, John Brewster Hunter, Junior; seated my grandfather, John Brewster Hunter, senior with my cousin, Edward Motley Hunter; seated my grandmother, Lena Farrell Owens; seated my uncle, James William Hunter; seated my aunt, Doris Kathleen Owens; seated my grandmother, Ethel Robinson Hunter with my cousin, Thomas Taylor III; and standing my uncle, Thomas Taylor, Junior.
Above the central painting is an image of my paternal great-great grandmother, Mazurie Hunter, presented with her house in Montezuma, Georgia and a symbolic cemetery containing the graves of all of the artist’s deceased family members. The vertical paintings immediately left and right show my paternal grandmother, Ethel Robinson Hunter, and my paternal grandfather, John Brewster Hunter, Senior, both performing daily tasks in their home. The larger vertical paintings present living family members, the artist on the left and his cousin, Sharon Hunter, on the right. Below the central painting is a representation of Beechwood Street where my grandparents lived in Detroit.
