Lot 179: Henrietta Mabel May 1877 - 1971 Canadian

Henrietta Mabel May 1877 - 1971 Canadian double-sided oil on board Winding River, Que. 12 x 16 inches 30.5 x 40.6 centimeters signed and on verso signed and titled and dated 1945 on a label Provenance:Private Collection, Montreal Mabel May was a groundbreaking female artist in Montreal, and was one of the first artists to enroll in the Art Association of Montreal. She traveled in France, Holland, Belgium and England from 1912 to 1913, and her early works showed the influence of Impressionism. May was also a war artist, painting women in munitions factories in Canada for the Canadian War Memorial Fund in 1918. In 1920, she was a founding member of the Beaver Hall Group in Montreal, among whose members were other modernist women painters. May was also an educator, and in 1945 was based in Ottawa, teaching art classes at Elmwood School. This superb Quebec watercolour reveals the influence of the Group of Seven, recalling Franklin Carmichael's exceptional watercolours, such as his high views in La Cloche over Grace Lake. May shows a fine sensitivity for mass in the rhythmic layers of land, and a firm command of colour - contrasting her cool and ethereal palette of smokey blues and greens with pink, beige and touches of orange. This striking panorama also has an unfinished landscape on verso.