She was a charming raconteur, a roguish entrepreneur and is known as Chicago’s most collected artist. This documentary portrait of Lee Godie (1908-1994) interviews many of the collectors and friends that she made during her 22 years of selling art on the streets of Chicago. From the steps of the Art Institute of Chicago to the Water Tower or Neiman Marcus she was a master at weaving a web of mystery around her life and her art.
Researching her early life, discovering a family unknown to many, this film reveals an amazing life story of a woman, who at the age of 60, created an art career for herself by declaring herself a French Impressionist with art that had no relation to that style and who lived independently in parks and on the streets of Chicago’s “Mag Mile”.
Screened at:
Collection L’art Brut, Lausanne, Switzerland 2020
Festival Hors Champ, Nice, France 2021
Chicago Filmmakers, Chicago, USA October 15-17, 2021
Intuit, The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art on February 26, 2022
Chicago Filmmakers, Chicago, USA February 27th – March 5th, 2022
Koelnischer Kunstverein, Koeln, Germany November15, 2022 – March 5, 2023
Articles:
Overlooked No More: Lee Godie, Street Person