Henriette Mabel May Sold at Auction Prices

Figure painter, Painter, Landscape painter, b. 1884 - d. 1971

(born 1884 Montreal, Quebec; died 1971 Burnaby, British Columbia) Canadian painter. Henrietta Mabel May studied art under the tutelage of William Brymner at the Art Association of Montreal from 1909-1912. Afterwards she traveled to Paris where she became influenced by the work of the Impressionists. She was already receiving considerable attention in Canada when the National Gallery of Canada purchased one of her paintings in 1913 and another three in the years shortly afterward. In 1916 she became an associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In 1920 she was one of the founding members of the Beaver Hall Group, a group of women and men that rented out studio and exhibition space together. Naming their group after the address of their rented space, the group was only in existence for 2 years; ending around 1922 due to lack of money. However the members of the Beaver Hall Group, particularly the women, remained in contact with each other beyond the group’s active years. In 1924 May painted with A.Y. Jackson, the president of their group as well as a member of the Group of Seven. Jackson proved highly influential to May’s style, seen in the bolder, brighter colors and emphasized curves of her landscapes. In 1933 May became a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters and in 1938 she was a supervisor of children’s classes at the National Gallery of Canada. In 1950 she retired in Vancouver, where they held a retrospective of her work and a sale of 100 of her works.