Lee Godie self-portrait photos are windows to her world

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Lee Godie, untitled, n.d.; gelatin silver print and ink; 15 ½ x 14 ¼ in. | Collection of Scott H. Lang, IL.

Lee Godie, the homeless woman who hawked her paintings up and down Michigan Avenue for more than two decades, is best known for her portrait paintings and drawings of nature. Rarely willing to be photographed by others, she eventually sat adorned in furs and gaudy hats for a series of photo-booth images she would embellish with ink and paints.

‘Lee Godie: Self Portraits’ When: To July 5 Where:Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, 756 N. Milwaukee Admission: $5 suggested donation Info: art.org

These images are now the focus of “Lee Godie: Self Portraits,” an intriguing new exhibit now at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. Organized by the Kohler Arts Museum, it features more than 50 photographs that offer a glimpse into the artist’s complex and imaginative personality.

The exhibit’s curator Karen Patterson first saw a sampling of Godie’s photographs, a unique thread in Chicago art history, when she was working at the Roger Brown Study Collection.

Lee Godie, Untitled, n.d.; gelatin silver print; 5 x 3 3/4 in. | Collection of John and Teenuh Foster, Saint Louis, MO.

Lee Godie, Untitled, n.d.; gelatin silver print; 5 x 3 3/4 in. | Collection of John and Teenuh Foster, Saint Louis, MO.

“I started hearing stories about Lee and how it was kind of a badge of honor to know her and own her work,” Patterson recalls. “I started learning more about her, and when I saw the photographs it was overwhelming. They are captivating, unsettling, beautiful and powerful.”

Taken in a photo-booth at the Chicago Greyhound bus station, the photographs are her most inventive work. It was a sacred place where she could play with different personas and contribute to her legacy. The photos show a woman who has lived a hard life on the streets but also they reflect her defiant spirit. She appears in various guises and poses enhanced by props bought with the proceeds from her street sales. The images seen together as a whole create a compelling portrait.

“It’s like a documentation of Lee’s life,” Patterson explains. “In some situations, she looks happy and healthy and proud. In others, she looks as if the streets have really gotten the better of her that day.”

Lee Godie, Untitled (in white fur stole with heart-shaped cameo), n.d.; gelatin silver print; 4 3/4 x 3 3/4 in. | Collection of Jim Zanzi, Wisc.

Lee Godie, Untitled (in white fur stole with heart-shaped cameo), n.d.; gelatin silver print; 4 3/4 x 3 3/4 in. | Collection of Jim Zanzi, Wisc.

These are selfies before selfies were a thing. But Godie was aiming for something more than a mere selfie, says Patterson who sees in the images “an unmistakable and stunning desire for self-invention and self representation.” It’s more about Godie showing herself as an artist.

“Because she lived on the streets the photo booth was a sole moment of privacy where she would see herself and start building her persona of an artist,” Patterson says, adding, “So there’s this really compelling mix of celebrity and pride with vulnerability and the harsh realities of the street. There was something powerful that happened when she closed that curtain.”

In the self-portraits, she often posed as a glamor queen. In one, Godie is wrapped in a fur and holding a heart-shaped broach. In another, she wears a plaid jacket (a sort of artist’s smock) and a jaunty scarf is tied around her neck; the inscription, solidly cementing her vision of her place in the art world, reads “Miss Godie, French Impressionist I am.”

Godie, who died in 1994, is categorized as an outsider artist. But there is much more to her aesthetic argues Patterson. Using the definition of “outsider artist,” one assumes the artist has no understanding of the art world. But the prolific Godie was different; she was relentless in her pursuit to be recognized as an artist.

Lee Godie, Untitled (self-portrait), c. 1970–80; gelatin silver print and ink; 5 x 3 3/4 in. | Collection of Carl Hammer, IL.

Lee Godie, Untitled (self-portrait), c. 1970–80; gelatin silver print and ink; 5 x 3 3/4 in. | Collection of Carl Hammer, IL.

Godie was a fixture on the steps of the Art Institute of Chicago where she sketched and painted; she also would often visit its world famous collection (according to legend it was an Impressionism exhibition that inspired her to start painting) and peruse the postcard collection in the bookstore.

“Her paintings, drawings and photos show that she was fully aware and fully entrenched in the art world of Chicago,” Patterson says.

And as an artist you struggle to get it right, to find your voice; it can be a lifelong battle. “But,” Patterson adds, “you look at Lee Godie, and she nailed it. She knew from the beginning exactly what she was doing and she worked hard to get it out to the public. And she started all this in her 60s. Proof that it’s never too late to be awesome.”

Mary Houlihan is a local freelance writer.

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