Canada's favourite artist, Maud Lewis (1903-70)
1)
This work is by Maud Lewis, who is said to be Canada's favourite artist.
The works are very colourful and full of lovely atmosphere.
She is a well-known person in Canada, and the postcards she drew made her so famous that her work was displayed in the White House in the United States.
Although she was in a difficult situation, she worked hard to survive, and her lovely life has even been made into books, musicals and films. I want to tell you about Canada's most famous artist, Maud Lewis.
2)
The life of Maud Lewis
Maud was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1903. She suffered from rheumatism from an early age, and it is said that her disability tormented her and left her small and crippled for the rest of her life.
Because of the severe discrimination against her disability at the time, she received little schooling and spent most of her childhood at home.
But fortunately, she never despaired and was happy to be with her family for long periods. As a result, her works for Mode often depict memories of her happy childhood and how blissful she was with her family.
3)
However, her father died in 1935, and her mother in 1937, and she was taken in by her aunt, who also lived in Digby, Nova Scotia. Shortly after moving to Digby, she married Everett Lewis, a fish merchant, and this was her big turning point.
Everett encouraged Maud to paint and gave her oil paints. With his support, Maud became obsessed with painting and began to create her paintings. Everett likes her paintings and puts postcards of Maud's paintings in the fish she sells.
4)
Gradually, Maud's work became famous with her customers, and soon, Maud put up a board outside her house saying ``paintings for sale'' and was selling her paintings herself.
This attracted much attention, and she was featured in magazines and television. Then, orders for her paintings kept coming, and she became well-known in Canada.
Maud also received a commission from an unexpected bigwig. Richard Nixon, then President of the United States, heard of her reputation and commissioned a painting of her. Her life as an amateur painter, starting as a fishmonger in Digby and becoming a significant artist decorating the walls of the White House, is one of the greatest success stories in Canadian art history.
Although her work continued to be popular both in Canada and abroad, her rheumatism worsened in her later years, and she died in 1970 at the age of 67.
5)
About her work
As mentioned above, she continued to paint independently and gained much of her fame doing so. However, fame may not have been much of a problem for Maud.
Yarmouth and Digby, where she had lived all her life, were rural towns far from the city, and it is said that she did not even know who Richard Nixon was. Also, while many folk art painters like her painted for a living, Maud always created on her initiative.
What motivated her was not the sale price of her work but her love of the act of painting itself. Even now, with time, she is still loved by many people in Canada and beyond.
6)
Straightforward lines and bright colours characterise her work, and her style is considered naive. The naive school refers to self-taught painters, and representative painters include Henri Rousseau and Grandma Moses.
Because they had no art training, they could draw with bold compositions and express the innocence and vibrant vitality unique to the artists.
7)
Maude's work, in particular, has an innocence and loveliness that makes you feel nostalgic for her. One of the reasons for this is that Maud depicted her childhood memories in the world of her works.
The subject of her work has always been the rural Nova Scotia town where she lived. Her work depicts the changing face of the city over time and the memories of her childhood with her family, filled with an everlasting sense of happiness.
Despite her disabilities, she lived an intense life and her works, which remind us of her innocent and cheerful personality, continue to be widely loved in changing times and still live in the hearts of many people.
Canada's most beloved artist, Maud Lewis
https://ims-create.co.jp/topics/1083/
Maudie (Film, 2016)
An arthritic Nova Scotia woman works as a housekeeper while she hones her skills as an artist and eventually becomes a beloved figure in the community.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3721954/
Simple marital love nurtured at the edge of the world - the "ultimate deal" seen in the life of a real painter
https://www.niwaka.com/ksm/movie/all-time-best/LastingMarriage/3/
A 1965 profile of folk artist Maud Lewis at work in her Nova Scotia home
CBC's biography series Telescope focuses on folk artist Maud Lewis and her husband, Everett. Airdate: Nov. 25, 1965.
http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/761637443808
Maud Lewis was a painter who continued to create simple paintings. Tracing her life through films and exhibits
Maud Lewis (1903-70) was a painter who painted the four seasons, flora and fauna in a small Canadian port town. Her film "Maud Lewis, Painter of Happy Paints" depicts her life and will be released on March 3, 2018. A related exhibition has also started at the Canadian Embassy in Akasaka, Tokyo. She spoke to director Ashling Walsh, who was in Japan.
https://bijutsutecho.com/magazine/interview/11587
Do you know the story of Maud Lewis? Two Nova Scotia artists want you to rethink myths
Maud Lewis - Wikipedia
Painter's myth
https://painterskeys.com/a-painters-myth/
