Maud Lewis
Maud Lewis (born March 7, 1903 in South Ohio , Canada , † July 30, 1970 in Digby , Canada) was a Canadian artist . The woman born with physical disabilities lived with her husband in very modest circumstances. At first she only painted for her own pleasure, later her cards and small-format paintings contributed to a living. Her works are attributed to folk art.
Life
Lewis was born on March 7, 1903 in South Ohio , a small community in the province of Nova Scotia in eastern Canada, to John and Agnes Dowley. She suffered from handicaps and arms from an early age as a result of the rheumatoid arthritis she had as a child.
On January 16, 1938, she married the peddler Everett Lewis. The couple were destitute and lived in a small house in Marshalltown, Nova Scotia, with no heating or electricity. Soon after the marriage, Maud Lewis went with her husband on his daily rounds selling fish door to door. This is how her artistic career began, because she drew Christmas cards that turned out to be very popular with her husband's customers. After some sales successes, her husband encouraged her to paint and bought her oil paints for the first time . Despite her physical limitations, she now painted small-format, colorful paintings to make a living.
In the last year of her life, Lewis' health deteriorated, yet she painted as often as possible, including while driving to the hospital.
She died on July 30, 1970 in Digby , Nova Scotia. Her husband was murdered by burglars nine years later.
Her two-bedroom home was renovated and is now on display in the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax . At its original location, a steel memorial was erected to replicate the house.
plant
Maud Lewis' pictures are very small, mostly only 20 to 25 centimeters, her largest picture is 90 centimeters. The paintings show outdoor scenes with people and domestic and wild animals such as horses, cats and birds. Lewis' painting technique consisted of applying the colors directly and unmixed from the paint tubes so that they appear bright and gaudy and the surfaces are clearly delimited from one another. She used all possible materials as a basis, including wooden boards and baking sheets . She even painted the walls of her house down to the last corner.
From 1945 to 1950, her paintings sold for two to three dollars. It was only in the last three or four years of her life that Lewis got seven to ten dollars per painting. She first received national attention in 1964 through an article in Star Weekly and a year later she was featured in a documentary on CBC Television . The sales price of her works has been rising steadily over the past few years. Two of her paintings sold for more than $ 16,000. “A Family Outing” achieved its highest selling price to date, at $ 22,200 at an auction in Toronto in 2009.
Movies
- Diane Beaudry: Maud Lewis: A World Without Shadows , online documentary, 1967
- Jane Churchill: I Can Make Art… Like Maud Lewis , short film, 2005
- Aisling Walsh : Maudie , feature film with Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke , 2016
Web links
- Art Gallery of Novia Scotia website
- Maud Lewis on blacksheepart.com
- Maud Lewis on folkartcanada.ca
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lewis, Maud |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Canadian folk artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 7, 1903 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | South Ohio , Canada |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 30, 1970 |
| Place of death | Digby , Canada |