New exhibition
From June 20, 2024 to January 5, 2025
QUÉBEC CITY, June 19,
2024 /CNW/ - "Painter of the sun," "A painter who
spreads sunlight on her canvases," and "A painter who addresses the
senses" are but some of the laudatory comments that qualify artist
Helen McNicoll (1879-1915) and her work, which is featured
this summer in an exhibition at the Musée national des beaux-arts
du Québec (MNBAQ). The MNBAQ is proud to present the first Québec
retrospective in a century of the Canadian impressionist painter's
work. From June 20, 2024 to
January 5, 2025, visitors can
discover an artist whose destiny was at once incredible and
fleeting, a little-known but utterly fascinating artist noteworthy
for her outstanding mastery of light and atmospheric effects.
The Helen McNicoll. An Impressionist Journey
exhibition has been conceived through the prism of travel and the
effervescence of a period and by examining the themes of
independence, friendship, and women's freedom. The
retrospective exhibition assembles more than 65 paintings, of which
25 come from the remarkable collection of philanthropist and art
lover Pierre Lassonde, and the
remainder from 15 institutional and private collections and also
includes sketches, a watercolour, and photographs presented in a
refined setting. It invites visitors on a voyage and, above all, to
experience an adventure bathed in vibrant, shimmering colours.
The exhibition also highlights the work of a free painter who
pushed the boundaries as an independent professional woman at a
time when women were often confined to the domestic sphere, thereby
contributing to the recognition on the world stage of Québec and
Canadian art. The splendidly luminous exhibition reveals a major
timeless, indeed essential, body of work.
A remarkable destiny
Born in Toronto in the late
19th century, Helen McNicoll grew up in Montréal in a well-to-do
environment. Her parents were recent British immigrants to
Canada who encouraged artistic
practice. Scarlet fever rendered her deaf at the age of 2 and her
parents encouraged her from childhood to develop her artistic and
musical creativity despite her handicap.
The McNicoll family's wealth meant that she could paint freely
without having to worry about selling her works or teaching to
support herself. Moreover, family relationships afforded her
contact with Montréal's leading art collectors at the time.
At the Art Association of Montréal McNicoll studied with
William Brymner (1855-1925), who
encouraged his students to travel in Europe to further their training. She made
London, then a prosperous art
centre, her base, where she undoubtedly discovered more progressive
work than what was being done in Canada.
Helen McNicoll, who was noteworthy for her love of travel
and the discovery of new spaces, undoubtedly perceived her
relationship to the world and her artistic output linked to
fledgling tourism at the turn of the 20th century.
Her European travels put McNicoll in direct contact with the
innovative styles teeming in these artistic communities and gave
her a special understanding of the development of impressionism and
post-impressionism. Stimulated by all these influences, McNicoll
painted landscapes focusing on rural life and genre scenes. She
developed a fresh, brilliant style that became her own distinct
language.
The artist also played a significant role in bridging North
American and European art. She was celebrated in her lifetime for
the high quality of her light-bathed rural or seaside landscapes
and intimate scenes in which feminine subjects predominate.
Helen McNicoll's brief but prolific career was shaped by the
presentation of scores of works at exhibitions in Canada and England for which she received awards for her
mastery of light and her unique pictorial representation. In
addition to the other awards, she was elected in 1913 to the Royal
Society of British Artists and, in 1914, was one of the rare women
elected as associate members of the Royal Canadian Academy of
Arts.
Travel as a way of
life
Helen McNicoll settled in London. She travelled in England and Europe and frequently to Canada. She led a cosmopolitan life but at
that time many artists withdrew from urban centres, especially
during the summer, to paint outdoors in the countryside or in
villages in order to explore landscapes.
McNicoll's research focused on the effects of light and
atmosphere, sustained by her numerous trips south of Paris, to Normandy and Brittany, Belgium, the Mediterranean, and Italy, including Venice, and to artists' colonies, where she
spontaneously refined her palette.
Praise for light and women's
work
The artist was often on the move and captured her ever-changing
environment remarkably. In Brittany, she painted village market
scenes in honey tones. In Venice,
her attention focused on the scintillating water of the canals. The
hot sand and blue sky of European beaches afforded a backdrop
suited to women and girls wearing dazzling white dresses.
This ode to travel and the mastery of light also enabled her to
examine the themes of female independence, risk-taking, sisterhood,
and freedom for women in the stimulating context of the English
suffragettes' fight for the right to vote.
Her favourite subjects were scenes of everyday life, although
her interpretation differed from that of the impressionists by
focusing more closely on women's labour and the intimate lives of
women at the turn of the 20th century.
Exhibition highlights
The exhibition comprises six separate areas embellished, in the
middle, with central structures, one of which recalls the shape of
a compass and its cardinal points to evoke travel. It presents all
the key elements of McNicoll's artistic career: Light and
Shadow, The Children's Playground, Sketchbook, Women at Work, The
Water's Edge, Life en plein air, Lighting the Studio, and On
the Boulevard.
The retrospective assembles the artist's finest paintings,
including such major works as Sunny September (1913), In
the Shade of a Tree (1915), Picking Berries (1913),
Stubble Fields (circa 1912), The Chintz Sofa (1913),
Evening Street Scene (circa 1910) and Montreal in Winter (1911).
Sunny September (1913) is a magnificent fall scene that
quickly established McNicoll's renown with art critics and key art
market stakeholders. This luminous fall day envelopes the
viewer.
In the Shade of a Tree (1915), from the MNBAQ's
collection, reveals scenes of women and children that McNicoll
cherished and forges links with the outstanding work of
impressionist artists Mary Cassatt
and Berthe Morisot.
Picking Berries (1913) examines the importance that
McNicoll attached to outdoor painting and composition but also the
context of feminine collaboration essential to the development of
her career since this work is reflected in a painting by
Dorothea Sharp with whom her
friendly and professional relationship was fundamental.
McNicoll produced several works devoted to fields or haystacks
following the example of works by Claude
Monet. Stubble Fields (circa 1912) is an eloquent
example. The artist put into practice in this painting several new
theories of colour circulating in impressionist and
post-impressionist circles since the late 19th century.
With The Chintz Sofa (1913), McNicoll briefly abandoned
her sunny landscapes for interior scenes. In the painting, it is
possibly Dorothea Sharp sitting on the elegant chintz sofa in
the living room of the workshop that she shared with McNicoll in
London. In light of the
suffragettes' struggles in the early 20th century, art historians
have proposed a feminist interpretation of this scene that supports
Sharp's involvement in the Society of Women Artists.
Evening Street Scene (circa 1910) proposes an evening
scene that is unique in McNicoll's output. The electric light
replaces the sun, thereby conferring on the painting a very modern
note that emphasizes the artist's interest in scenes of everyday
life, as do her numerous market scenes, and for all manner of
effects of light and atmosphere.
Montreal in Winter
(1911) also reveals the importance of McNicoll's travels between
Canada and Europe and her interest in the snowy
landscapes of her homeland. The painting reflects works by Canadian
impressionists Maurice Cullen,
James Wilson Morrice, Clarence Gagnon, and Marc- Aurèle de Foy
Suzor-Coté, among others.
The catalogue is the perfect
complement to the exhibition
To celebrate the luminous work of Helen McNicoll, her
remarkable destiny, and her contribution to the history of Québec,
Canadian, and international art, a catalogue has been published to
accompany the retrospective organized by the MNBAQ.
The work, which hinges principally on the notion of travel,
focuses on most of McNicoll's works exhibited, including those from
Pierre Lassonde's impressive
collection. Edited by the MNBAQ and 5 Continents Editions, the
160-page bilingual (English and French) catalogue is accompanied by
four essays, each of which sheds light on a facet of the artist's
work.
The introductory text by Anne-Marie
Bouchard examines McNicoll's work in the context of the
mobility of women artists in the early 20th century. It broaches
transatlantic travel, American and European destinations, artistic
networks, and the social implications of travel. Samantha Burton provides a biographical
overview of the artist that retraces the development of the
artist's career with particular emphasis on the importance of her
transnational travel. Julie
Nash also focuses on the notion of mobility by closely
examining McNicoll's outdoor paintings undertaken throughout her
travels, including the practice centred on painting small plein-air
oil sketches. Lastly, Caroline
Shields and Valerie
Moscato also examine the artist's work
methods through a thorough examination of her pictorial
technique to attempt to grasp how she began and completed her large
canvases, a still unknown aspect of her art.
Credits
The exhibition Helen McNicoll. An Impressionist Journey was
organized by the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.
The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec is a state
corporation funded by the Gouvernement du Québec.
Collaborators
Anne-Marie
BOUCHARD
Content contributor
Julie NASH
Manager of scholarly content and
didactic texts
Maude LÉVESQUE
Project leader, MNBAQ
Loïc LEFEBVRE
Design,
MNBAQ
Philippe LEGRIS
Graphic Design, MNBAQ
Management
Marie-Hélène AUDET
Head of Mediation, MNBAQ
Yasmée FAUCHER
Head of Museography, MNBAQ
Catherine GAUMOND
Head of Collections, MNBAQ
The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec thanks the partners
and the donors of its foundation for their financial support to
carry out this project.
Helen McNicoll. An Impressionist
Journey
Pierre Lassonde Pavilion of the
MNBAQ
From June 20, 2024 to
January 5, 2025
Helen McNicoll: Timeline
December 14,
1879
Helen Galloway
McNicoll is born in Toronto,
Ontario, to parents who had recently immigrated to
Canada from the United Kingdom.
1881-1882
McNicoll becomes deaf after a bout of
scarlet fever.
May 1885
At the age of
five, McNicoll experiences her first transatlantic journey when she
travels to England and back with
her mother and younger siblings. Around this time, the family
relocates to Montréal as David
McNicoll moves up the ranks at the Canadian Pacific Railway
(CPR).
June – September
1898
McNicoll travels to the Great Britain with her mother and siblings
once again. She purchases two sketchbooks from a London supplier of artists' materials. Shortly
after returning home, she enrolls at the school of the Art
Association of Montreal, and
drawings of fellow students and her instructors appear in the
sketchbooks.
February 1899
McNicoll
visits the Mystic Oral School in Mystic,
Connecticut, an institution in favour of teaching
lip-reading over sign language for the Deaf. She draws some of the
students in her sketchbook.
July 27, 1902
After
completing four years of study at the Art Association of
Montreal under William Brymner, and alongside other young
artists, McNicoll journeys to England with her mother and sister.
October 2, 1902
McNicoll
begins classes at the progressive Slade
School of Fine Art, University College, London. She studies drawing and painting from
the antique and life, as well as composition. Her address is 6
Gordon Square, close to where the first Bloomsbury Group meetings
would take place at the residence of sisters Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf (née Stephen).
Summer 1903
In between terms at the Slade, McNicoll
travels to the coastal British town of Broadstairs with her sister
and a London-based cousin.
September – October
1904
McNicoll briefly returns to Montréal, her first
trip home since she moved abroad on her own to pursue her
professional training.
Fall 1905
McNicoll relocates to St. Ives, Cornwall, to attend the Cornish School of
Landscape, Figure and Sea Painting founded by Julius Olsson, and meets her lifelong partner,
Dorothea Sharp. McNicoll's
sketchbook from this time lists her address as a "Harbour Studio,"
similar to the converted fish lofts used during lessons.
February 24 – March 24, 1906
McNicoll shows two
paintings at the annual exhibition of the Ontario Society of
Artists — her first professional exhibition. The next month, her
work, including The Brown Hat, appears on Québec soil for
the first time at the Art Association of Montreal's annual exhibition. She regularly
sends paintings back home to Canada in the following years, soon showing at
the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) and Canadian National
Exhibition.
Summer 1906
By this time, McNicoll's father has become
the vice president of the CPR. The company launches two luxurious
transatlantic passenger steamships, on which McNicoll will travel
for the rest of her life.
October 18,
1907
McNicoll departs Liverpool for Montréal on the CPR's Empress
of Ireland, returning home for
the first time since enrolling at St. Ives. She later returns to
England, undertaking regular trips
to the artists' colonies of England and France, often in the company of Dorothea Sharp.
March 24 – April 11, 1908
McNicoll exhibits five
paintings at the Art Association of Montreal's annual exhibition. She receives the
inaugural Jessie Dow Prize (shared with W.H. Clapp) for her
painting September Evening. The Montréal collector and
president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Sir William Van Horne, soon after purchases his
first of three canvases by McNicoll.
Winter 1910
During an extended trip
home, McNicoll paints scenes around Montréal. In May, the
Canadian artist Robert Harris paints
her portrait.
July 1910
McNicoll
travels to France and possibly
also to Venice, Italy. She paints
plein-air studies in oil that she enlarges onto canvas when she
returns to her London studio.
March 14, 1912
McNicoll
attends the opening of the Art Association of Montreal's annual exhibition during a trip
home to see her family. She exhibits four paintings, including
The Children's Playground.
March 1913
When she is
elected an associate member of the Royal Society of British Artists
(RBA), an announcement and the artist's photograph appear in many
Canadian newspapers. They announce that McNicoll was awarded the
maximum of three paintings for spring exhibition of the RBA that
year, among them The Chintz Sofa.
Summer 1913
McNicoll travels to the south of
France with fellow artists
Dorothea Sharp and Marcella Smith, believed to be the subjects of
Under the Shadow of the Tent. This painting is sent to the
autumn showing of the Royal Society of British Artists soon after.
When exhibited in Canada the next
year, it wins the Women's Art Society of Montreal's annual prize for the "best painting
by a Canadian woman."
January 26 – February 26 février, 1914
Sunny
September and White Sunshade #2 are shown at the
Royal Society of British Artists. By autumn of that year, both
works have been sent to Canada and
are shown in the annual exhibition of the Royal Canadian Academy of
Arts. The RCA elects McNicoll as an associate member, the highest
level a woman could reach until the 1930s.
April – June
1914
McNicoll travels home to Canada for the last time, although she did not
know it would be the final journey. Due to travel restrictions
brought on by the First World War, this is likely the last time she
sees her Canadian family.
August 1914
McNicoll is
travelling in France with
Dorothea Sharp when the war breaks
out. Her father uses his position and influence at the Canadian
Pacific Railway to get the pair safely back to England. She donates paintings to exhibitions
in Canada and England designed to raise funds for the war
effort, including The Farmyard.
October 1914
The Victorian Dress is shown at the Royal Society of
British Artists' autumn exhibition. It is the only work she
mentions in one of several extant letters. As she writes to her
father: "It's called 'The Victorian Dress' but I call it 'the
mustard one' on [account] of its colour.
March 1915
McNicoll
sends two works to what would be her final showing with the Royal
Society of British Artists, including In the Shadow of the
Tree. It is believed to be the only time this work is exhibited
in McNicoll's short lifetime.
June 27, 1915
McNicoll
passes away suddenly from complications related to diabetes while
working at Swanage, England. The
bulk of her paintings remain in her London studio until her family is able to
retrieve them. This is also the first and only year McNicoll
appeared on an electoral register, though British women would not
gain the right to vote until many years later.
November 7 – December 6, 1925
Ten years after her
death, McNicoll's legacy is recognized by a memorial exhibition
organized by the Art Association of Montreal. Over 140 works are shown, including
loans from Montreal private
collections and her estate. This was the last retrospective
exhibition dedicated to McNicoll on Québec soil — until
now.
SOURCE Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec