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Jimmy Lee Sudduth
Rosenak Collection
AFAM Archives
Jimmy Lee Sudduth
Jimmy Lee Sudduth
Rosenak Collection
AFAM Archives
Jimmy Lee Sudduth Rosenak Collection AFAM Archives

Jimmy Lee Sudduth

(1910–2007)
Place bornCaines Ridge, Alabama, United States
Place diedFayette, Alabama, United States
BiographyJimmy Lee Sudduth began drawing with mud on trees and stumps as a child. Seeking to make this pigment more permanent, he began experimenting with different binders and eventually settled on sorghum syrup, which he later varied to include almost any sugar-based liquid—from sugar water to Coca-Cola. To tint his paints, he mixed his binders not only with earth pigments, but also experimented with dozens of other everyday colorants—from grass to lawnmower soot— becoming a master of untried technique. He also used commercially available paints, alone or mixed with mud. Sudduth’s skill as a colorist is visible in the contrasts of his unusual palette.

Adapted from “Jimmy Lee Sudduth” by Susan Mitchell Crawley in The Hidden Art (New York: Skira Rizzoli/American Folk Art Museum, 2017), 206–209.