Name/Title
EmilyEntry/Object ID
2023.10.01Description
Drawing
This is a portrait of the artist Emily Carr, a leading figure in the development of Modern art in Canada. She is shown in her studio as an older woman, surrounded by depictions of things that were important in her life - from carved First Nations totems to nature to one of her beloved dogs, likely Billie. The painting is almost like a collage and is done mostly in darkish colours and shades with the focus on Carr's strong and pensive face. She is shown wearing her trademark tight cap and smock and is holding a paintbrush in her right hand.Type of Drawing
PastelArtwork Details
Medium
Pastel on paperSubject Person
Emily Carr (1871-1945)Subject Place
Region
Pacific NorthwestContinent
North AmericaContext
One of the first professional painters in B.C., Emily Carr (1871-1945) is considered an icon, recognized as one of Canada’s greatest artists, best known for her paintings of Pacific Northwest Coast First Nations peoples, their villages and culture, as well as forest and seashore landscapes. Also well known for her writing, Carr won a Governor General’s award for her first book 'Klee Wyck', her nickname from the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations of Vancouver Island's northwest coast.
Born in Victoria and raised in the English tradition, she trained as an artist at the California School of Design in San Francisco, the Westminster School of Art in London, and later at the Académie Colarossi in Paris where she was exposed to and influenced by new artistic developments such as Post-Impressionism and Fauvism. For decades she went on sketching expeditions across Vancouver Island and the mainland and while she was considered ahead of her time, with a style all her own, and one of the first artists to capture the spirit of a relatively unknown Canada in a Modern style, recognition was slow to come.
This changed when her powerful paintings of forest interiors and monumental First Nations totems became more broadly known to the Canadian public in 1927, when her work was presented in the exhibition Canadian West Coast Art: Native and Modern, shown at the National Gallery of Canada, and later in Montreal and Toronto). There, Carr first met members of Canada's famed Group of Seven, including Lawren Harris (1885-1970). Harris was a founding and leading member of the Group, who became a most important support for Carr, leading to one of her most prolific periods, and the creation of many of her most notable works with her unique stylized and abstracted forms. She was also influenced by the U.S. Northwest School founder, artist Mark Tobey (1890-1976).
More public recognition later came with a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1937, and the first of annual solo exhibits at the Vancouver Art Gallery began in 1938. Of note, shortly before her death, she was to have been awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of British Columbia. In 1978, she was awarded the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Medal, and numerous institutions are named after her, such as the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver. The Vancouver Art Gallery holds the most important collection of Carr’s art in the world, and the majority of her correspondence is held by the BC Archives in Victoria.
For further information see - Mary Jo Hughs and Kerry Mason, Emily Carr: On the Edge of Nowhere (Victoria, B.C.: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 2010), available in the UCBC Library.Made/Created
Artist Information
Artist
Jeanne Lucas Stannard MacDonaldRole
ArtistDate made
n.d.Notes
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Jeanne Lucas Stannard MacDonald was born and raised in South Africa where she studied art before coming to Canada in the 1960s, and later living in Victoria. She specialized in portraiture as well as life studies, animals and romantic imagery. Her artwork can be found in Toronto, California, the Prairies and B.C. Further research is needed.Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
Title, SignatureLocation
Titled and signed lower right:
EMILY
Jeanne Stannard MacDonaldDimensions
Dimension Description
SupportHeight
96.5 cmWidth
64.8 cmAcquisition
Acquisition Method
GiftDate
Oct 15, 2023Notes
Donated by Ron MacDonald, UCBC member
