Here’s a pic of my favorite piece of art: a framed painting by Lee Godie, a legendary Chicago folk artist who used to seel her stuff outside the Art Institute.
Here’s text from Carl Hammer’s site, where there is also a ton more images:
In 1968, a French Impressionist artist appeared on the stairway of the Art Institute of Chicago. At the entrance to the city’s most esteemed art institution, Lee Godie began to sell her canvases – paintings which she compared favorably with Cezanne’s. The term “French Impressionist” was abruptly updated. Godie’s paintings concurrently captured the face of the city and the persona of its dwellers. The John Hancock Tower became an icon for Chicago. Birds, leaves, twigs, and insects symbolized the natural world, which Godie ingeniously inhabited in the heart of the city. Her distilled impressions and perception captivated countless artists, collectors, and casual observers – the subjects of many of her portraits. As intentionally as she became a French Impressionist, Lee Godie became a famous artist.