The Louis Muhlstock and Ethel Southam portaits work for me -- I'd be pleased to have on my walls. And maybe the Edwin Holgate. The others, not so much. I think it's the lack of detail. They seem "flat" somehow.
And the expressions puzzle me. Wth the exception of Lawren Harris, who appears to look quizzically at the artist, they all seem preoccupied, or even worried, by something beyond the scene, It's disconcerting.
January 5, 2013 at 3:59 PM
Lilias Torrance Newton (1896-1980) was a Canadian painter specializing in portraiture. Her career overlapped those of the Group of Seven, and some of them even sat for her.
Biographical information on the Internet is sketchy, but her Wikipedia entry contains the basics.
Here style is the slightly simplified naturalism favored by some artists in the 1920s and 1930s who either felt they had to adopt a little modernism for commercial reasons or maybe simply liked that particular look. Below are some of her portraits.
Gallery
[Image]Self-Portrait - c.1934
[Image]Elise Kingman - 1930
[Image]Louis Muhlstock - c.1937
[Image]Ethel Southam (Mrs F.H. Toller)
[Image]Lawren Harris - 1938
Harris was a leader of the famous (in Canada but, alas, not elsewhere) Group of Seven.
[Image]Edwin Holgate
Holgate became of Group of Seven member not long before it disbanded.
[Image]Frances Holgate
I have no documentation, but assume for now that this portrait is of Holgate's wife.
posted by Donald Pittenger at 1:00 AM on Jan 2, 2013
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Close this window Jump to comment formThe Louis Muhlstock and Ethel Southam portaits work for me -- I'd be pleased to have on my walls. And maybe the Edwin Holgate. The others, not so much. I think it's the lack of detail. They seem "flat" somehow.
And the expressions puzzle me. Wth the exception of Lawren Harris, who appears to look quizzically at the artist, they all seem preoccupied, or even worried, by something beyond the scene, It's disconcerting.
January 5, 2013 at 3:59 PM