Henry Speller facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Henry Speller
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Henry Speller, 1987
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| Born | 1900 |
| Died | 1997 (aged 96–97) |
| Known for | Drawing; painting |
| Movement | Modern Art |
Henry Speller (born 1900, died 1997) was an American artist and blues musician. He lived and worked in Memphis, Tennessee. Henry Speller was known for his unique drawings and paintings. He often created colorful and detailed figures. He once said these figures looked like "characters from Dallas", a popular TV show.
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Henry Speller's Early Life
Henry Speller was born in 1900. He grew up in a place called Panther Burn, Mississippi. His grandparents, Ike and Zannie Simpson, raised him. They were a sharecropping family, which meant they farmed land owned by others. They mostly grew cotton. Henry went to school until he was twelve years old.
Moving North and Family Life
After his grandfather had a serious problem with a white employer, the family had to move. They went to northern Mississippi. Henry then started working full-time on the farm to help his grandmother. He always dreamed of moving further north, like many African Americans during the Great Migration.
Henry Speller married three times. His second wife, Mary Lee Shorter, was from Memphis, Tennessee. In 1941, Henry and Mary moved to Memphis. This was a step closer to his dream of moving north. They had five children together before they divorced.
Life as a Musician and Artist
In Memphis, Henry Speller worked many different day jobs. But at night, he became a blues musician. He played in clubs on the famous Beale Street. He was a very talented blues player. He even played with famous musicians like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Howlin' Wolf asked Henry to join his band in Chicago. But Henry said no because he thought Chicago was too cold!
Henry retired in the mid-1960s. Before he retired, he worked as a groundskeeper for the Memphis city parks.
Later Years and Art Decline
In 1964, Henry married Georgia Verges. She was also an artist. Their marriage was very happy. They did not have any children together. Sadly, Georgia became very sick in the mid-1980s. She stopped making art a few years before she passed away in 1988. After her death, Henry's art and health also started to decline. By 1990, he began to lose his eyesight. This made it hard for him to create art. Henry Speller passed away in 1997.
Henry Speller's Art Career
Henry Speller started drawing and painting when he moved to Memphis in 1941. He also worked for the Memphis sanitation department. This job meant he collected old, discarded items. He would fix them, use them in new ways, or sell them.
Materials and Style
Henry liked to draw on large pieces of paper. These papers were usually about 19 by 20 inches. He would first draw the outlines of his subjects with a graphite pencil. Then, he would fill in the shapes and patterns with crayons or colored pencils.
Most of his drawings filled the entire page. But sometimes, he would draw a single figure standing alone on a white background. Henry made thousands of drawings during his life. Many of them were saved even though he moved around Memphis a lot.
Common Subjects in His Art
Speller is well-known for his detailed drawings of houses. He also drew different types of transportation, like trains, cars, riverboats, and planes. He often drew figures, especially women, who were dressed up and decorated.
His art often used patterns like stripes and grids. These patterns showed movement from one area to another. For example, they might show how clothes connect to skin, or how the inside of a building connects to the outside. Some art experts think Henry's patterns are like the patterns found in African American quilt-making traditions. These quilts often use rectangular and square shapes in creative ways.
Henry Speller's art style is sometimes called "blues aesthetic." This is because his art shows the strong feelings and experiences found in blues music. It often turns pain and hardship into something imaginative and powerful. His drawings sometimes show bodies that seem to stretch and move, almost as if they are breaking free.
Collections
Henry Speller's artwork is kept in the permanent collections of several museums. This means his art is part of their regular display for people to see.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
- The Brooklyn Museum
- The Morgan Library & Museum
- High Museum of Art
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- collection de l'Art brut, Lausanne, Switzerland
- American Folk Art Museum
- Treger Saint Silvestre collection, Porto, Portugal
- Mississippi Museum of Art
- Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, U.S.
- St. Jame Place Folk Art Museum, Robersonville, U.S.
- The Old Capitol Museum of Mississippi History, Jackson, U.S.
- White Hall Gallery, Richmond, U.S.
- U.S. National Gallery of Art
Images for kids
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Henry Speller, 1987
