The Group of Seven is arguably made up of Canada’s most famous artists. Best known for their landscape paintings, there are few portraits that have become national Canadian icons, including Frederick Varley’s Vera (1930).
Perhaps the most highly regarded of all Canadian portraits, the rendering of this mysterious woman sparks our curiosity through her captivating eyes and coy smile. She reappears in many of Varley’s paintings, and photographs by John Vanderpant, and later Harold Mortimer Lamb. An inspirational muse to many famous Canadian artists, her own worth as an artist is often underrated.
Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Art
Vera Olivia Weatherbie was an accomplished painter in her own right, regarded more so now than during her lifetime. She was born in 1909 in Vancouver and attended Brittania Secondary School. She grew up in the Strathcona neighbourhood near Chinatown in Vancouver’s East end. Her parents were strict, conservative Presbyterians, yet somehow she was able to persuade them to let her attend the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (VSDAA) at the young age of 16.
In her second year, Vera became one of Varley’s drawing students. The two became close over the years, but it wasn’t until her postgraduate years at VSDAA that their relationship flourished. As a “shy and beautiful” young woman who “moved with a grace” similar to that of a Japanese Tea party, Molly Bobak Lamb remarks that it was easy for men to become infatuated with Vera’s. Varley’s Vera paintings success as a Willingdon Prize winner, a collection piece at the National Gallery of Canada, and eventually praised with its creation into a postage stamp only confirms Molly’s suggestion of Vera’s enchanting capabilities.
Her paintin...
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...t way, like Varley’s 1930 Vera, she remains a mystery, a forgotten artist, best known for he work as a muse, model, and wife. It is often wondered what kind of work she would have done if she had remained single mindedly focused on her art like the famous Emily Carr
Works Cited
Amos, Robert. Harold Mortimer Lamb: the art lover. Victoria, BC: TouchWood Editions, 2013. Print.
Tuele, Nicholas. British Columbia women artists, 1885-1985: an exhibition. Victoria, B.C., Canada: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1985. Print.
Michael Clark. "Vera Weatherbie: Vancouver Artist," Visions in the Making: The Official Publication of the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. 2 (September 1995).
Vancouver Art Gallery. “Vera Olivia Weatherbie: Artist’s Biography.” Vancouver Art Gallery. 2006. http://projects.vanartgallery.bc.ca/publications/75years/pdf/Weatherbie_Vera_55.pdf
Frederick Varley and all the other members of the Group of Seven were working towards creating a new Canadian Style of painting in a time where Canada was desperate to show how independent and different from Britain they were. Varley’s Stormy Weather Georgian Bay is a perfect example of art mirroring society. With this piece we can see the use of new, vibrant colours and loose flowing brush strokes to symbolize the new role that Canada was pushing to play as an independent nation on the world
Alice Neel’s painting Suzanne Moss was created in 1962 using oil paint on canvas. As the title suggests, the painting depicts a woman’s portrait. Now resigning in the Chazen Museum in Madison, WI, this portrait of a woman lunging is notable for the emotional intensity it provokes as well as her expressionistic use of brush strokes and color. The scene is set by a woman, presumably Suzanne Moss, dressed in dull back and blues lounging across a seat, staring off to the side, avoiding eye contact with the viewer. The unique style and technique of portraiture captures the woman’s piercing gaze and alludes to the interior emotions of the subject. In Suzanne Moss, Alice Neel uses desultory brush strokes combined with contrast of warm and cool shadows
Elizabeth Catlett`s art documents history, but particularly the experiences of the black and brown working class women.. She combined what she has learned of African art, African American art, and
Working at her father’s clothing shop, she became very knowledgeable about expensive textiles and embellishments, which were captured in her works later in career. She was able to capture the beauty and lavishness of fabrics in portraits of aristocratic women.
There were many important events that occurred in between the First World War (1914 – 1918) and the Second World War (1939 – 1945), but the event that is the most significant to Canada's history is the career of Emily Carr (1871 – 1945). Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Emily helped shape Canada as we know it today, her art serving as a doorway into Aboriginal culture even as she became an inspiration for women in particular and is now very well-known in Canada and even internationally (The Canadian Encyclopedia, paragraph #1). This report will explore the muses, challenges and eventual success of possibly one of the most important women in Canada's history.
In this tempera painting, he used matte opaque water based paints. Tempura paint is a fast drying, opaque matte paint which is inexpensive. Along with his use of tempura paints, he used paper-covered boards to create this beautiful painting. In addition, his use of vibrant colors is what brings this painting alive. In contrast, the “Alabama Plow Girl” is not a painting but an actual photograph taken by Lange. What is interesting is that the photograph is not in full color, but in black in white in contrast to the “Blind Beggars” painting, which has vibrant colors. Both Lange and Lawrence art works reflect on the theme of poverty and unfortunate circumstances of
Art could be displayed in many different forms; through photography, zines, poetry, or even a scrapbook. There are many inspirational women artists throughout history, including famous women artists such Artemisia Gentileschi and Georgia O’Keeffe. When searching for famous female artists that stood out to me, I found Frida Kahlo, and Barbara Kruger. Two very contrasting type of artists, though both extremely artistic. Both of these artists are known to be feminists, and displayed their issues through painting and photography. Frida Kahlo and Barbara Kruger’s social and historical significance will be discussed.
Aristotle once claimed that, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Artists, such as Louise-Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun and Mary Cassatt, captured not only the way things physically appeared on the outside, but also the emotions that were transpiring on the inside. A part no always visible to the viewer. While both artists, Le Brun and Cassatt, worked within the perimeters of their artistic cultures --the 18th century in which female artists were excluded and the 19th century, in which women were artistically limited-- they were able to capture the loving relationship between mother and child, but in works such as Marie Antoinette and Her Children and Mother Nursing her Child 1898,
Adèle Ratignolle uses art to beautify her home. Madame Ratignolle represents the ideal mother-woman (Bloom 119). Her chief concerns and interests are for her husband and children. She was society’s model of a woman’s role. Madame Ratignolle’s purpose for playing the pia...
The painting can be found at the Washington’s National Art Gallery. Further, this artwork is an important piece of art created during her mature career. Cassatt depicts the young girl alone within a domestic exterior. The informal posture, as well as the evident brushwork, are attributed to impressionism while the asymmetrical structure, the hasty scene cropping, and the shallow space indicate the Japanese art inspirations. Additionally, the young girl seated in an unselfconscious and sprawling manner is a reminder to the viewer of her young age
Roberts, Helene E. "Marriage, Redundancy or Sin: The Painter's View of Women in the First Twenty-Five Years of Victoria's Reign." Suffer and Be Still: Women in the Victorian Age. Ed. Martha Vicinus. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973.
One of the paintings done by Rococo was that of a girl in a field, in the presence of string wind that blowing up her dress and hair. This painting uses a wide range of pastel colors and has graceful curves that embellish the lady’s figure (Adams, & Adams, 2010).
When first approaching this work, one feels immediately attracted to its sense of wonder and awe. The bright colors used in the sun draws a viewer in, but the astonishment, fascination, and emotion depicted in the expression on the young woman keeps them intrigued in the painting. It reaches out to those who have worked hard in their life and who look forward to a better future. Even a small event such as a song of a lark gives them hope that there will be a better tomorrow, a thought that can be seen though the countenance by this girl. Although just a collection of oils on a canvas, she is someone who reaches out to people and inspires them to appreciate the small things that, even if only for a short moment, can make the road ahead seem brighter.
Jessica Stockholder, a site-specific sculptor and instillation artist, was born in 1959 in Seattle, Washington. She received a degree in painting from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada’s University of Victoria, and went on to receive a Mater of Fine Arts degree from New Haven Connecticut’s Yale University. Here she would later
When I saw Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring about five years ago at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., I felt something about the painting that I had never felt before when looking at artwork. I felt as if this girl, this young woman in the painting was real, hiding in the museum behind this canvas. She was in the flesh. Her skin was still dewy from three hundred-something years ago, the light across her face still glowing. She was in the round, her eyes followed mine, she was real. She was about to speak, she was in a moment of thought, she was in reflection. This girl was not crimson red or titanium white, she was flesh. Vermeer caught her, a butterfly in his hand. She was not just recorded on canvas, she was created on canvas. She was caught in a moment of stillness. Vermeer creates moments in his paintings. When viewing them, we step into a private, intimate setting, a story. Always, everything is quiet and calm. I realize now it is no wonder I had such a strong reaction to Vermeer the first time I saw him: he is a stillness seeker.