“It is impossible to separate the way Godie lived from her urgency to create. Driven by her zest for life, her tough constitution and a determination to survive and sell her art on the street, Lee Godie creatively and successfully, transcended that life with her passionate and uniquely personal vision.”
In 1968, homeless Lee Godie appeared on the steps of the School of The Art Institute of Chicago and began “hawking” drawings and painted canvases to the visitors of the museum. Proclaiming herself a “French Impressionist” and equal to the likes of Monet, Manet, Degas, and Cezanne, Godie established a ubiquitous presence throughout downtown Chicago. She produced and sold her art while living on Chicago’s streets, establishing for herself and her work a distinctively significant presence.
Godie's paintings 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. Thousands of paintings later, Lee Godie the famous has become an icon in the Chicago art world. ... Perhaps as powerful as her paintings, Godie's tenacious originality has continually reminded artists, collectors, and casual observers that life and art can be invented, and not merely emulated. Lee Godie has maintained an aura of privacy regarding the facts of her life. When asked about her birthdate, she replied "I don't celebrate my birthday, I celebrate my status as an artist."
1968 Lee Godie appears on the steps of The Art Institute of Chicago
1979 Godie's paintings included in Art in Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
1968-1990 The artist resides on and around the streets of Chicago, selling her paintings nearly every day
1991 Lee Godie: Drawings and Paintings, Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago, IL
1993 Lee Godie: French Impressionist, Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago, IL
1993 Artist- Lee Godie, A 20 Year Retrospective, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
1994 Lee Godie passes away