Sister Belle Mathis

1895 - 1971

Little is known about this African American artist born in Somerville, Tennessee.  She was the oldest of 13 children and she had 5 children with husband Elder Mathis.  They were both ordained ministers and missionaries.  She drew scenes on corrugated cardboard or cloth depicting her surroundings and events of life and what she had observed on television.  She used wax crayons and chalk.  In drawing figures, she begins with the eyes, nose, and mouth because she read in the pages of a medical book she once saw a fetus forming.  She placed her finished raw works on her house by means of a string and nail.  From 1960 – 1965, people stopped by her home to purchase her works.  She had a one woman show in 1968 at the Covington, Tennessee National Guard Academy.