When Clyde Burnette’s children say their father was an artist his whole life, they are not painting with a broad brush.
He started when he was 5, his daughter said, using whatever material that was around. At that time, it was house paint and wood from his parents’ barn.
“If you see the paintings he did when he was young, you see tell it is a God-given talent,” Paula Puhr said of her father’s early work. “I would ask him how he could paint a figure and have the size of the head and the body so exact at such a young age.”
In the 1940s, Burnette went on to receive formal training at New York’s Pratt Institute, where he met Pauline Josephine “PJ” Normandin. The couple married in 1946 and she ran the business side of Burnette’s artistic enterprise. When she died last year, Burnette’s own health began to decline, said his son, David Burnette, who lives in Smyrna.
“She was the love of his life,” he said of his parents. “It seems like they were inseparable.”
Clyde Burnette, a native of Florence, S.C., and a long-time resident of Atlanta, died April 22 from a broken heart, his son said. He was 89.
A memorial service is planned for 10 a.m. on Friday at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, Atlanta. Cremation Society of Georgia was in charge of arrangements.
When Burnette and his wife moved to Atlanta in 1950, he was working in advertising services, which included artistic contributions. Burnette worked for Burke Dowling Adams, which later became Batten Barton Durstine & Osborn. He was with the agency for 20 years and then freelanced for the company another 20 years, his daughter said.
“He never really retired,” said Puhr, of Kansas City, Mo. “He worked in his studio up until last year.”
When Burnette started freelancing, he was able to give more time and attention to portrait painting, his children said. He was a member of several professional groups and societies, including the Atlanta Portrait Society, where he was held in high regard.
“He had a loving and generous heart, and loved to educate people when it came to what he did,” said Suzanne Smith, of Brentwood, Tenn., a vice president of the Atlanta society. “He had a lot of energy and a lot of creativity.”
Lora Hill, who is on the board of directors of the Portrait Society, said Burnette’s “ability to paint was second nature to him.”
“In my opinion he was a great painter. There were years in there where I joked with him that there was no point in me putting any pieces in any exhibitions. It wasn’t really true,” she said with a laugh, “but he’d always win first place.”
In addition to his daughter and son, Burnette is survived by his eldest son, Clyde Edward Burnette, of Little Rock, Ark; one grandson; and two great-grandchildren.
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