Name/Title
Vase of FlowersEntry/Object ID
2018.04.02Description
Painting
This still-life depicts a long-necked turquoise gourd vase holding showy cream-coloured lily-like flowers. These colours and shapes are reflected in the coral-brown table and the background creating a cheerful and lively feel to the painting.Artwork Details
Medium
Watercolour on paperContext
With origins in Ancient Egyptian and Greco-Roman art, still-life painting emerged as a distinct genre and professional specialization in Western painting by the late 1500s, and has continued to evolve across the centuries with appeal to artists and patrons alike.
Be it a painting or drawing or other form of visual art, a still-life focuses on still objects. The subject matter is inanimate, typically with a focus on commonplace household objects, flowers or fruits. Other types of objects from daily life may also be depicted such as books, medicines, tools, dead game and more. Still-lifes can be done in any art style, not just as realistic art. And still-lifes may be full of symbolic meanings or may simply represent the artist's experimentation with shape, texture, colour, lighting, and placement. Still-life art can also portray complex themes.Made/Created
Artist Information
Artist
Maude Mary Lettice (1878-1976)Role
PainterDate made
n.d.Time Period
20th CenturyNotes
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Born and educated in Victoria, B.C., Maude Mary Lettice (aka Margaret Katherine “Kate” Lettice) was a successful amateur painter whose patrons included the Duchess of Devonshire and the B.C. Lieutenant-Governor Walter Cameron Nichol. She lived in Vernon, B.C. for many years, moving back to the family residence, "Yaxley", on Faithful Street in Victoria after the death of her husband.
Lettice was a member of Island Arts and Crafts Society, and a life member of the Victoria Sketch Club exhibiting for over 30 years from 1910 to 1941. She also exhibited for many years in the annual B.C. Artists exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery, from the early 1930s to the mid-1950s. She was also a founding member of the Federation of Canadian Artists. Lettice died in Victoria at age 97.
Lettice was also one of 118 Canadian artists who, in 1932, demanded reform at the National Gallery of Canada including a government investigation and threatened a contentious boycott. In addition to the Gallery, the controversy involved the Canadian Group of Seven, the Royal Canadian Academy, various key artist societies (incl. the Island Arts and Crafts Society), Government Ministers and many professional artists. See Web Links.Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
Signature, LabelLocation
Signed lower right: M. LetticeTranscription
Verso frame on previous frame dust seal fragment:
Label:
MAUDE LETTICE Victoria
Longtime sketching partner of
Josephine Crease, Wife of Henry Crease
First Attorney-General of B.C.
Blue printed framers' label from PICTURE CRAFTS...Fort Street...Victoria B.C...Dimensions
Dimension Description
Visible imageHeight
38.1 cmWidth
25.4 cmAcquisition
Acquisition Method
PurchaseDate
Mar 6, 2018Notes
Lunds Lot # 649Relationships
Related Entries
Notes
By Maude Mary Lettice:
2017.05.14 Sea View Through Shrubs
2018.04.02 Vase of Flowers
