Maud Lewis: A Canadian heroine who, despite a hard life, painted 'pure joy'
'She shouldn't have been happy, but in her paintings, my goodness, they are happiness'
Landscape Artist of the Year Canada brings together the country's top professional and amateur artists in a battle of the brushes to see who can best capture the country's most iconic landscapes. Stream Landscape Artist of the Year Canada now on CBC Gem.
Ian Dejardin is an art historian and the executive director of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, where the Landscape Artist of the Year's winning artist's work will be put on display. In the video above, the first in a series of videos on famous Canadian landscape artists, Dejardin tells us about Maud Lewis, who he sees as a Canadian icon and heroine.
"Maud Lewis is a heroine, a Canadian icon from the east coast," he says. "She was born with severe disabilities and had arthritis over her life. Her life was difficult. And she was not able in many ways to live a satisfied life, except that she could paint."
Dejardin says for the school groups who come to the McMichael gallery to learn, Lewis's story makes her an inspirational figure. "She struggled against all the elements in her life. She was poor all her life. Nonetheless her paintings are pure joy, distilled onto a small surface."
"She was able to earn a very small living from it, but that's not really what it's about. It's the perfect example of how a brush, a surface and paint can actually create life. She's an inspiration. She shouldn't have been happy, but in her paintings, my goodness, they are happiness."
Stream Landscape Artist of the Year Canada now on CBC Gem.
