Shoreline Landscape / Farm Scene

Private Collection, Calgary

Evelyn Walters, The Beaver Hall Group and Its Legacy, Dundurn Press, Toronto, 2017, pages 109-12

Henrietta Mabel May was known for landscape paintings in rich colour schemes, marked by the the influence of French Impressionism as well as the Group of Seven. In one of the early showings of her work, the 1920 RCA annual exhibition, critic Albert Laberge singled out May in his review, declaring that “[s]he follows no one, always ahead of the pack. Her painting is vigorous, bold, and richly coloured.” She focused on city scenes and landscapes of the Eastern Townships in Quebec and Baie-Saint-Paul, as well as New England. This double-sided painting shows two images of early spring: a lake of melting ice and a thawing forest; the former is depicted in a bright and decorative palette, the latter in muddy earth tones. “The Montreal Star” reviewed May’s retrospective in 1947: “she has an intense feeling for the Canadian scene and assurance in handling it.”