Smiling Girl

Emily 'Lee' Godie was a self-taught, eccentric street artist whose studio was the sidewalks and streets of Chicago, where she chose to live the last twenty-five years of her life. Little is known of her life prior to 1968, the year in which she first began painting and selling her work to pedestrians on the steps of the Art Institute of Chicago describing herself as a French Impressionist. She often worked in ballpoint pen with watercolor and gravitated towards images of imaginary well-to-do women; many may be self-portraits. She achieved celebrity in Chicago and her work was much admired by students and other artists. Chicago's art community has had a major role in fostering and promoting self-taught artists, drawing broad art world attention to artists who might otherwise live in obscurity.