ARCA BCSA BHG CGP
1877 - 1971
Canadian
Ripening Fields
oil on canvas on board, circa 1940
signed and on verso signed, titled on a label and inscribed "1495 Balfour Ave" and "$65" on a label
12 x 16 in, 30.5 x 40.6 cm
Available for post auction sale. CAD
PRICE: $8,125
Preview at: Heffel Vancouver
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the Artist
By descent to the present Private Collection, Vancouver Island
In 1902 at the age of 25 Henrietta Mabel May began her art training at the Art Association of Montreal, where she studied with William Brymner. In 1912, she traveled to Paris with fellow artist Emily Coonan, with trips to England and Scotland. She returned to Canada in 1913, opening a studio in Montreal.
In 1920, May became a founding member of the Beaver Hall Group in Montreal, and shared a studio with Lilias Torrance Newton at the Beaver Hall Hill space. She exhibited in the two Beaver Hall exhibitions in 1921 and 1922. Her landscapes after 1920 show the influence of the Group of Seven - with a fine understanding of light and atmosphere, and strong forms depicted with confident brush-strokes.
May was an active exhibitor, and participated in the Art Association of Montreal's spring exhibitions from 1910 to 1967, and in the exhibitions of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts from 1910 to 1952. She exhibited with the Group of Seven in Toronto in 1928, 1930 and 1931. A founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters in 1933, she also exhibited with them. The National Gallery recognized her work early on, acquiring four of her works between 1913 and 1924, followed by more later.
May also exhibited internationally in group shows, including the influential British Empire Exhibition in Wembley, England in 1924. In 1927 she exhibited at the Musée du Jeu de Paume in Paris, in 1930 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, in 1938 in A Century of Canadian Art at the Tate Gallery in London, in 1939 at the New York World's Fair, 1944 in the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and in 1947 at the Riverside Museum in New York.
In 1948 she returned to Montreal, giving private art lessons until 1950, when she moved to Vancouver to be near her sisters In 1952 she had a solo exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery. She died in Vancouver in 1971.
Available for post auction sale. CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
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