Lee Godie

1908-1994

Lee Godie was born Jamot Emily Godie in Chicago, one of eleven children. She married in the 1930s and had three children. In the early 1940s her youngest child died of a childhood illness, causing friction in the marriage due to Godie’s belief that sickness can be cured by faith rather than medicine. Divorce followed and her eldest daughter contracted diphtheria and died after Godie, still a believer in Christian Science, refused medical treatment for her daughter. By the early 1960s, Godie was living on the streets, surviving on handouts. It is thought that she began painting soon after she lost her home. Godie produced an enormous body of work. Early subjects included face portraits of dapper men in uniform and glamorous women, their eyes and lips heavily swathed with the same paint make-up used by the artist herself. Godie also painted still lifes, animals and birds. She enjoyed creating her self-invented “pillow paintings” which consisted of two pictures sewed together and stuffed with newspapers. Using photo booths, she created altered self-portraits, which provide a glimpse into her undiagnosed mental state. Godie’s reunion with her daughter in 1989 meant her remaining years were lived out happily in the company of long-lost family. ²