Emily Carr

The Portrait Gallery of Canada has in it's possession a rather unusual self portrait of Emily Carr, a nude done while she studied in England. Emily Carr was an artist inured in Victorian sentimentality that she stressed out over how to paint anatomically correct figures on native totem poles. But, in England, she loosened up a little and ventured an over the shoulder with a side profile nude self portrait. It's interesting to know that she came out of her shell and did something that must have caused her to have some misgivings.

Emily Carr is one of Canada's most beloved artists, well known for her bold colour and mellow light. Emily painted both the landscape and native villages of Western Canada in a uniquely modern style that was opposite to what her French contemporaries were doing. Emily Carr, in her paintings, managed to encapsulate the life and death of the coast salish native culture. When I look upon her pieces, I am filled with awe and pain. The beauty of colour that she injects into the faded memories of my brothers awes, the pain of knowing that world no longer exists overwhelms.

The way Emily moved among the forest and villages, inspired by what she experienced tells me that she understood a little of that world. Emily was not the only one to explore this now silent world, but she brings a consciousness to it that is not often found. The self portrait of Emily Carr is slated for display in Fall 2007.


http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/permanent_carr.cfm