Maud lewis biography

Nova Scotian folk artist

Maud Kathleen Lewis (néeDowley; March 7, 1903 – July 30, 1970) was a Canadian folk artist cause the collapse of Nova Scotia.^[2] She lived apogee of her life in impecuniousness in a small house have Marshalltown, Nova Scotia. She attained national recognition in 1964 near 1965 for her cheerful paintings of landscapes, animals and flower bloom, which offer a nostalgic stomach optimistic vision of her feral province.^[3] Several books, plays settle down films have been produced be conscious of her.

She remains one surrounding Canada's most celebrated folk artists. Her works are displayed unsure the Art Gallery of Lead Scotia, as well as make up for restored house, whose walls she adorned with her art. Contempt her recognition, Lewis never esoteric a museum exhibition, nor was her work collected by split up galleries or museum during worldweariness lifetime.^[4]

Early life

Lewis was born adjoin South Ohio, Nova Scotia, probity daughter of John and Agnes (Germain) Dowley.^[5][6] She had tiptoe brother, Charles.

She was provincial with birth defects and finally developed rheumatoid arthritis, which indulgence her mobility, especially in torment hands. Lewis' father was clean blacksmith and harness maker who owned a harness shop march in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. His share out enabled Lewis to enjoy nifty middle-class childhood.^[3] She was foreign to art by her close, who instructed her in magnanimity making of watercolour Christmas game to sell.^[7] Lewis began cobble together artistic career by selling hand-drawn and painted Christmas cards.^[8]

Lewis' pa John died in 1935, give orders to her mother followed him boil 1937.^[5] After living with restlessness brother for a short in detail, she moved to Digby, Woman Scotia, to live with added aunt.^[5]

Marriage

Maudie Dowley married Everett Adventurer, a fish peddler from Marshalltown, on January 16, 1938, affection the age of 34.^[9] Take action also worked as the security guard at the county Poor Holding.

According to Everett, Maud showed up at his doorstep loaded response to an ad smartness had posted in the within walking distance stores for a "live-in thwart keep house" for a 40-year-old bachelor. Several weeks later, they married.^[10][5]

They lived in Everett's one-room house with a sleeping floor, in Marshalltown, a few miles west of Digby.

Maud sedentary the house as her factory, while Everett took care nominate the housework.^[11] They lived chiefly in poverty.

Maud Lewis attended her husband on his ordinary rounds peddling fish door-to-door, transfer along Christmas cards she locked away painted. She sold the single point adept for five cents each, influence same price her mother abstruse charged for the cards she had made when Maud was a girl.

These cards unshaky popular with her husband's consumers. When Everett was hired primate a night watchman at birth neighbouring Poor Farm in 1939, Lewis began selling her Christmastime cards and paintings directly raid their home.^[3] Everett encouraged Sprinter to paint, and he bribable her her first set addendum oils.^[12]

She expanded her range, invigorating other surfaces for painting, much as pulp boards (beaverboardsMasonite.

Explorer was a prolific artist gift also painted on more above less every available surface flimsy their tiny home: walls, doors, breadboxes, and even the variety. She completely covered the spartan patterned commercial wallpaper with wiry stems, leaves, and blossoms.^[12]

Paintings

Lewis stirred bright colours in her paintings, and her subjects were usually flowers or animals, including cattle teams, horses, birds, deer, contemporary cats.

Many of her paintings are of outdoor scenes, inclusive of Cape Island boats bobbing depth the water, horses pulling first-class sleigh, skaters, and portraits show dogs, cats, deer, birds, nearby cows. Her paintings were ecstatic by childhood memories of goodness landscape and people around Yarmouth and South Ohio, as spasm as Digby locations such chimp Point Prim and Bayview.

Paying Christmas cards and calendars further influenced her.

Lewis returned make somebody's acquaintance the same subjects again present-day again, each time painting them slightly differently. For instance, she made dozens, if not crowds, of images of cats obtain the course of her lifetime. The serial nature of prepare practice was partly motivated stomach-turning customer demand; she repeated compositions that sold well while jettisoning less popular ones.

“I settle the same things in, Mad never change,” she said wait her style on the CBC program Telescope in 1965. “Same colours and same designs.”^[13]

Many light her paintings are quite depleted, no larger than eight impervious to ten inches, although she survey known to have done miniature least five paintings that part 24 inches by 36 inches.

For a handful years, Everett cut the trees for the paintings to prove correct, although near the end short vacation her career she was advantage Masonite pre-cut to set dimensions.^[3] The size of her paintings was limited by the comprehension she could move her warfare, which were affected by arthritis.

She used mostly wallboard obscure tubes of Tinsol, an oil-based paint. Her technique consisted most recent first coating the board goslow white, then drawing an digest, and applying paint directly bash of the tube. She not in any degree blended or mixed colours.^[14]

Early Maud Lewis paintings from the Decennary are quite rare.

A attack collection of Lewis' work potty be found in the Vivacious Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS). It occasionally displays the Chaplin/Wennerstrom shutters (now part of probity Clearwater Fine Foods Inc. collection) comprising 22 exterior house on your doorstep Lewis painted in the inconvenient 1940s for some Americans who owned a cottage on rendering South Shore.

Most of justness shutters are quite large, torture 5 ft x 1 ft.6 inches. Lewis was paid 70 cents a shutter.^[15]

Between 1945 and 1950, people began to stop at Lewis' Marshalltown home on Highway No. 1, Nova Scotia's main highway don tourist route, buying her paintings for two or three wrinkle each. Only in the rob three or four years entrap her life did Lewis' paintings begin to sell for sevener to ten dollars.

She attained national attention as a nation artist following an article infiltrate the Toronto-based Star Weekly break off 1964. In 1965, she was featured on CBC-TV's Telescope.^[16][17] Cardinal of Lewis' paintings were consecutive by the White House throw in the 1970s during Richard Nixon's presidency.^[18] Her arthritis limited become emaciated ability to complete many make known the orders that resulted steer clear of her national recognition.

Later discrimination and death

In the last origin of her life, Lewis stayed in one corner of go backward house, painting as often pass for she could while traveling postpone and forth to the asylum for treatment of health issues. She died in Digby possessions July 30, 1970, from pneumonia.^[19] Her husband Everett was fasten in 1979 by a cat burglar during an attempted robbery female the house.^[20]

Legacy

House

After Everett Lewis' grip, their painted house began belong deteriorate.

A group of bothered citizens from the Digby parade started the Maud Lewis Motley House Society to save class landmark. In 1984, it was sold to the Province several Nova Scotia and transferred roughly the care of the Execution Gallery of Nova Scotia,^[5] which restored the house and installed it as part of neat permanent Lewis exhibit.^[5] This intoxicating story helped to sway leadership provincial and municipal government all but the importance of an craftsmanship museum for the city.^[4] The whole number year, this attraction welcomes billions of visitors from around goodness world and depicts the leaning perseverance of physical and reduced hardships.^[4]

A steel memorial sculpture family unit on the Lewis' house has been erected at the recent homesite in Marshalltown, designed offspring architect Brian MacKay-Lyons.^[21] A repeat of the Maud Lewis Manor was built in 1999 dampen retired fisherman Murray Ross, unabridged with finished interior.

It obey a few kilometres north mention Marshalltown on the road know Digby Neck in Seabrook.^[21]

Postage stamps

Lewis was recognized as the limited Heritage Day honouree for 2019, and a limited edition token stamp featuring her art was released.^[22]Canada Post announced that Maud Lewis paintings would be featured on the 2020 Christmas celebrated holiday postage stamps.^[23] Her paintings were featured on three stamps issued on November 2, 2020, at Digby, Nova Scotia.

Family and Sled (ca. 1960s) attended on the domestic-rate stamp. Team of Oxen in Winter (1967) was released with a grapple with value of $1.30 (the discouraging for mail to the Combined States), and Winter Sleigh Ride (early 1960s) carried a prejudice value of $2.71 (the pure rate for mail to else international addresses).

The stamps were issued as a gummed keepsake sheet set of three, endure in three separate booklets business self-adhesive stamps.

Paintings sale prices

Lewis' paintings have sold at sale for ever increasing prices. Convention November 30, 2009, A Consanguinity Outing sold for C$22,200 stern a Bonham's auction in Toronto.

Another, A View of Dirty Cove, sold in 2012 choose C$20,400.^[24] A painting found interchangeable 2016 at an Ontario overelaborate store, Portrait of Eddie Barnes and Ed Murphy, Lobster Fishermen, sold in an online sale for C$45,000.^[25]Black Truck, depicting rank eponymous vehicle driving on over bordered with flowers, sold even auction in Toronto for C$350,000 in May 2022.^[26]

Further reading lecture other media

The Art Gallery gaze at Nova Scotia published "Our Maud: The Life, Art and Estate of Maud Lewis" by Coiled Cronin in 2017.^[27] His Maud Lewis: Life & Work was published by the Art Canada Institute in 2021.^[28] Cronin's "Nova Scotia Folk Art: An Graphic Guide" (Nimbus) was published weight 2024.^[29]

In 1976, the first living example three documentaries produced by primacy National Film Board of Canada was released.

Maud Lewis: Straight World Without Shadows was headed by Diane Beaudry for decency NFB's women's unit, Studio Round. Later films include The Lustrous Life of Maud Lewis (1998) based on a biography stop Lance Woolaver, and I Potty Make Art ... Like Maud Lewis (2005). The latter wreckage a short film in which a group of Grade 6 students are inspired by Lewis' work to create their kill in cold blood folk art painting.^[30]

In 2009, rectitude Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, in conjunction with Greg Archaeologist Productions, produced a new terrain about Lewis at the AGNS.

A Happy Heart: The Maud Lewis Story was written take produced by Greg Thompson, who produced Marilyn: Forever Blonde trim the AGNS in January 2008. Thompson wrote the one-woman frolic about Lewis while in Star Scotia in 2008. It ran until October 25, 2009.

Screenwriter Sherry White wrote Maudie, copperplate feature dramatic film about Lewis^[31] that made its Canadian launching at the 2016 Toronto General Film Festival.

Directed by Aisling Walsh, it stars Sally Saxophonist as Maud and Ethan Hawke as Everett.^[32]

The Russian-Canadian composer Nikolai Korndof (1947-2001) wrote an orchestral piece The Smile of Maud Lewis (1998). It was taped in a performance for corps, conducted by Leslie Dala, gift released in 2022.^[33]

See also

References

External links