Lot 56
HENRIETTA MABEL MAY, A.R.C.A.
Additional Images
Provenance:
Dominion Gallery, Montreal.
Private Collection, Ontario.
Literature:
Evelyn Walters, The Women of Beaver Hall: Canadian Modernist Painters, Toronto, 2005, page 67.
A.K. Prakash, Independent Spirit: Early Canadian Women Artists, Richmond Hill, Ontario, 2008, page 87, for a reproduction of “The Regatta” (1913-1914).
Note:
May's artistic training began in 1902 at the Art Association of Montreal where she studied under William Brymner. By 1913, May had already travelled France, England, Holland and Belgium to study and paint. Evelyn Walters notes of May’s paintings: “It is thought that [May] avoided strong darks like black and red because they were deemed to have a negative effect.” In Montreal, however, May departs from the softer, Impressionist style that dominated her early works such as “The Regatta” (1913-1914) by introducing thicker, curving brushwork and bold colouring reminiscent of the works of once Beaver Hall Group president, A.Y. Jackson. It was in 1933, the year during which this work was completed, that May participated in the founding of the influential art society, the Canadian Group of Painters.