Born Sept. 1, 1908; died March 2, 1994, Plato Center, Ill.
Born in 1908, Emily Jamot Godie (later known as Lee Godie) was a beloved artist in the Chicagoland art scene throughout the late 20th century. Highly collected and widely exhibited, Godie was famed for her persona just as much as for her recognizable art style. Not much is known about Godie’s early life. “When asked about her birthdate, she replied ‘I don’t celebrate my birthday, I celebrate my status as an artist.’” She married in the mid-1930s and had three children, two of which passed away early in theirlives. From the 1960s, the often-elusive Godie began living without permanent housing on and around Michigan Avenue, occasionally in inexpensive hotels. She was first recorded selling her art on the steps of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1968, striking the interest of passersby, artists and collectors.
A character and a connoisseur, Godie would often sell her art for exceedingly affordable prices, while slyly marking the back of the works with their perceived value. Her subjects displayed their own sort of independence—self-portraits, charming men and women, birds, nature, and social scenes all characterized her work. She worked on canvas, paper and window shades with tempura, watercolor and ink. In the 1970s and ’80s, she began to create self-portraits using transit station photobooths. Her own muse, she often photographed herself in different guises and personas. These portraits would then be sold individually or stitched onto her paintings.
Godie earned recognition during her lifetime, her first exhibition appearing at the Museum of Contemporary Art just 10 years after claiming her place on the Art Institute steps. In 1991, she partnered with Carl Hammer Gallery (since closed) to hold two solo exhibitions before her 20-year retrospective at the Chicago Cultural Center in 1993. She passed away the following March, in the home of her daughter in Plato Center, Ill., at the age of 85.
—Emily Q. Slavin, Intuit Art Museum curatorial fellow
