More than two dozen paintings by the late Helen LaFrance – a celebrated Black artist from far western Kentucky known for her “memory paintings” of rural life – are up for auction and a Paducah group is hoping to buy them.
James R. Cash Auctions & Real Estate is facilitating the sale of 26 works by LaFrance, including paintings of a county fair, historic Graves County churches, community gatherings, rural scenes and renderings of downtown Mayfield. An online auction is currently underway with the final day of bidding set for May 11.
Paducah Historic Preservation Group leadership aims to secure funding from local investors to buy the entire collection before that final bidding deadline. PHPG president Rhonda McCorry-Smith estimates the group will need to raise $250,000 from investors to secure all of the paintings for sale. She said keeping these images in LaFrance’s home region is worth the price.
“We're trying to raise funds to secure as much of the art as we possibly can. We want to keep that art here, educate our communities and have it as a tourist attraction for the region,” she said. “It instills a lot of pride because you get the imagery of how life was in that part of the area in this part of the country overall, and how important it was for her to preserve it.”
PHPG formed in 2022 with the goal of highlighting African-American history in the region, mounting projects like a driving tour of Black history locales in Paducah and driving conversations about public art in the western Kentucky city.
The group is working with the Community Foundation of West Kentucky to manage donations and investments toward buying the paintings. If purchased, the paintings would be displayed at the Paducah School of Art & Design and occasionally rotated to other regional art institutions, when PSAD has other exhibitions.
McCorry Smith also said that regional museums and institutions – like Yeiser Art Center and Market House Museum – will be able to feature the paintings and that the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage in Louisville will help manage the rotation. Investors who make a $5,000 minimum donation will be able to be included in the rotation.
PHPG is also examining the possibility of procuring additional works by LaFrance. McCorry-Smith said that Bruce Shelton, the private collector who owns the paintings being auctioned off, owns more LaFrance works that could potentially be purchased by the group.
Western Kentucky author Jayne Moore Waldrop penned a children’s book on LaFrance and called the artist’s work “a diary of someone who lived through enormous change in western Kentucky.” She said keeping this collection of LaFrance works – which includes a painting of the now-demolished Graves County Courthouse and other historic structures damaged or lost in the December 2021 tornado – in her home region would be meaningful to many.
“So many of Helen’s paintings are of Mayfield and graves county landmarks that no longer exist … that were destroyed in the tornado,” she said. “I think it makes it even more poignant and important for us to keep those images in our community.”
Waldrop said projects like this that help to preserve and collect local art and historical items are key in communities like western Kentucky.
“It's a really important project for our regional community to be able to keep this collection of art together intact so that these memories of what western Kentucky has looked like, and our history, can remain here,” she said.
The auction ends on Saturday. The form to donate is available online and on the Paducah Historic Preservation Facebook page.
