Most of my posts for my new blog thus far have been about American women artists and creative. While I am going to stay with America for this post, I am going to focus on a woman artist from Canada. Canada for me is a country that I know has a lot to offer and is oh, so close. But, for whatever reason, I haven’t taken advantage of the opportunities that I am certain abound.
Today, Sunday, December 2, 2018, I attempted to rectify this by paying Ottawa a short and quick visit. In particular, I beelined to the National Gallery of Canada in historic downtown Ottawa.
The gallery had much to offer, between the substantial permanent collection of Canadian artists as well as American and European artists. My goal for this excursion was to learn about and see for myself the works of Canadian abstractionists. I wasn’t disappointed. In a future post, I plan to fully recount the details of the Canadian abstract artists and their works that I saw.
However, this post is dedicated to Prudence Heward (1896-1947). I had not heard of her until I read the placards accompanying her works on display. Before I even read the placards, I was drawn to her paintings.
The first one that I experienced was “Rollande”, 1929. I snapped the image to the left. As I came around the corner, I was met with a strong, determined face who wasn’t looking at me, but with downward, side cast eyes, hands on hip, was definitely looking at something intently. But most striking of all for me was the color. The figure wears what appears to be a pink jumper over her white, peter pan collared black jumper. The skilled shading employed by the artist made me think that I could image the texture of the pink jumper, as if it were a sturdy cotton broadcloth that would feel strong in my hands. The painted gradations of the figures face and hands evoked the idea that she probably spends a good amount of time outdoors, exposed to the elements. Her features are pronounced with a decidedly determined mouth, a strong chin and resolute jaw.
Have you noticed the adjectives that I am using to describe this work? Strong. This is what so many resources that I consulted used to describe Prudence Heward’s work. Additionally, not only did she paint strong images using striking colors, apparently most of her subjects were women.
Prudence Heward is definitely, permanently on my watch list. Her life’s story includes growing up in Montreal, Canada, spending time in England and Europe, as well as the USA. She also was known to exhibit with a Canadian cadre of painters called “The Group of Seven”. This was interesting as the well known group of seven Canadian painters were all male and mostly painted landscapes.
She died young, just at the age of 50 in 1947 in Los Angeles, CA. However, her left behind oeuvre of strong female figures in bold, definitive colors and facial expressions is apropos for this decade of girl power and female recognition. While the subjects are clearly from another time, the subject matter is contemporary.
The time is now for Prudence Heward.
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