Cattle at Elliott Family Farm Near Marshall’s Bay, circa 1930

“Kathleen Moir Morris, RCA”, Loan Exhibition, Walter Klinkhoff Gallery, Montreal, June 1976, no. 40

A.K. Prakash, “Independent Spirit: Early Canadian Women Artists”, Buffalo, 2008, page 154 Evelyn Walters, “The Women of Beaver Hall: Canadian Modernist Painters”, Toronto, 2005, pages 79-80

Kathleen Morris was a Quebecois painter best known for recording the authenticity of everyday life in Montreal and its environs. She was born with a physical disability but refused to let it hold her back from painting outdoors in all seasons. The quiet pleasure in her work comes from her own affection for a humble yet lively world, and provides a refuge from modern day chaos; a moment captured in time. Two months of every summer were spent in Marshall's Bay near Arnprior, Ontario, where she painted cows and other animals from the cottage that had been in the family for generations. Morris compassionately painted animals with regularity and with an interest in the bond between humanity and the natural world. When she was unable to paint in her later years, Morris devoted herself to the prevention of cruelty to animals. A note written by the artist’s niece in 1980 accompanies this painting. The note reads: “This picture was painted by my aunt Kathleen M. Morris RCA - near Marshall’s Bay Ontario - around 1930. The friendly cows lived on the nearby Elliot farm which is still owned and operated by the Elliot family.”