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"When I die, the brush dies": Remembering Jimmie Lee Sudduth

 

Jimmie Lee Sudduth, celebrated Alabama folk artist, died Sunday, September 9, in Fayette, Alabama, at the age of 97. Until recent years, Sudduth painted using his finger rather than a brush. His medium was Alabama mud mixed with other household ingredients such as coffee grinds, berries, and sugar to provide color and texture.

Sudduth, who was born in 1910, began painting at the age of four. He was the self-proclaimed "most famous artist in the world" and some of his best known images are of his dog(s), all named Toto.  

Jimmie Lee Sudduth was part of a long line of self-taught southern folk artists, among whom is Mose Tolliver, also known as Mose T.  Mose T died last October at the age of 82.

(Photo of Sudduth courtesy of Joe Oliveira, Tuscaloosa News, via Associated Press)

---Penne J. Laubenthal

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