'Edwin Holgate's Ludovine' From an Essay by Christopher Rolfe

"However, as we come to the fourth and last portrait to be discussed, let us relinquish the notion of a Canadian portraiture. Portraits are universal statements, they speak to all mankind – we are back with that basic denotative legibility – and it would be wrong to confine them to a narrow, nationalistic significance. Ludovine, to be seen in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, was painted in 1930 in a small cod-fishing village called Natashquan on the north bank of the St Lawrence. (Holgate was on his way to the Labrador coast.) The young woman wears black for she is in mourning – her mother had just died – and, as the eldest child, she had been left to care for a numerous family of siblings. Even if we did not know these details, the portrait could not fail to have an effect on us. Holgate places Ludovine uncompromisingly in the middle of the canvas, again square on. Her head is, however, held slightly to one side: the neckline of her dress is off-set. The effect of this is to hint at her vulnerability in a time of grief, and render the
sense of resolution and responsibility all the more poignant and admirable. Her dark eyes look directly into ours, unfalteringly, and yet also seem to be contemplating an unknowable future. Her calm and poise, together with a slight tension, are also
conveyed by her clasped hands. In formal terms, her head to one side, together with crenellated middle of the chair-back (opposed to the smooth curve on the other side) prevent too rigid a symmetry. A harsh light casts a dark shadow which accentuates the somber mood. However, the expanse of light blue counters this to a certain extent (even though it is a cool colour) and perhaps suggests that the promise of youth, despite her grievous loss, is not altogether blighted. This is a hauntingly beautiful portrait. Like Plamondon’s portrait of Soeur Saint-Alphonse, it speaks to us about Canadian/Quebec women. Beyond that, it speaks to us about all women. Beyond that, it shares with us thoughts about the universal spirit, about human loss, grief, vulnerability, and quiet courage."

Christopher Rolfe is University Fellow and Honorary Director of the Centre for Quebec Studies, University of Leicester, UK, and a former President of the British Association for Canadian Studies and of the International Council for Canadian Studies.

Extracted from an online essay: A Canadian Portraiture, Some Thoughts of Edwin Holgate. Please click here.

Edwin Holgate

Edwin Holgate (August 19, 1892 – May 21, 1977), was a Canadian artist, painter and engraver. Holgate played a major role in Montreal's art community, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where he both studied and taught. He was known primarily as a portraitist and for a number of female nudes in outdoor settings that he painted during the 1930s.

Holgate's family moved to Jamaica in 1895 where his father worked as an engineer. In 1897 he was sent to Toronto to go to school. In 1901 his family returned from Jamaica and settled in Montreal.

Holgate studied at the Art Association of Montreal under William Brymner (who also taught A. Y. Jackson) and later Maurice Cullen. In 1912 he studied in Paris. He was travelling in the Ukraine at the outset of World War I, and was forced to cross Asia to return to Canada. He returned to France with the Canadian Army.

Holgate's first exhibition was held at the Arts Club of Montreal in 1922. He taught wood engraving at the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal from 1928 to 1934.

Holgate was considered the "eighth" member of the Group of Seven — he was invited to join the group in 1930. In 1935 he was elected associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

He worked as a war artist in England during World War II. On his return to Montreal after the war, he found that the arts scene had changed, with the arrival of the Automatistes. He left Montreal to live in the Laurentians.

The National Gallery of Canada held a retrospective of his work in 1975. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts organized another retrospective in 2005


Extracted from Wikipedia. Please click here.

The Beaver Hall Group

Lawren P Harris: Monster Forms, 1953.

It not uncommon for like minded artists to group together and draw support from one another on their artistic journey's. While the Group of Seven was advancing its style from its Toronto base, Montreal also had its Beaver Hall Group.

For that matter, Lawren Harris and AY Jackson were cross over artists, who migrated from Montreal to Toronto. The online Cybermuse site, reports that AY Jackson continued to maintain Montreal links after moving to Ontario, through ongoing letters and communication.

The Montreal group were originally students of William Brymner. It was a non structured association of artists who shared studio space in Beaver Hall Square.
It was formed in 1920 and while it had a lifespan of a year and a half its members maintained their relationships through the next two decades.

Included in the group were, Anne Savage, Sarah Robinson, Edwin Holgate, Prudence Heward,Lilias Newton,and Lawren P. Harris.

Its important to clear up any confusion which may arise about Lawren Harris. Lawren P. Harris, is the son of the noteable Group of Seven artist, Lawren S. Harris.

Click here and you will be taken to the Cybermuse reference for this entry.

Don't miss the click on related images tab. It will open for you a page of some of the surprising works of the Beaver Hall group. Click here.