Two Indian Women (1873) by William Raphael

Provenance:
McCready Gallery, Toronto, circa 1970
Acquired by the present Private Collection, August 1974

Exhibited:
“Collector’s Canada: Selections from a Toronto Private Collection”, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; travelling to Musée du Québec, Quebec City; Vancouver Art Gallery; Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, 14 May 1988‒7 May 1989, no. 16
“Hommage à William Raphael (1833‒1914)”, Galerie Walter Klinkhoff, Montreal, 7‒21 September 1996, no. 23

Literature:
Sharon Rose Goelman, “William Raphael, R.C.A. (1833-1914)” (M.A. thesis, Concordia University, 1978) page 349, no. 153 as “Caughnawaga Lake Seller”
Dennis Reid, “Collector’s Canada: Selections from a Toronto Private Collection”, Toronto, 1988, no. 16, pages 9, 12, reproduced page 25
Sharon Rose Goelman, “William Raphael, R.C.A. (1833-1914)”, Montreal, 1966, page 6, reproduced page 16

Two women sit in the interior of a building. A beam cuts across the upper right corner above an opening from which light illuminates the plastered wall behind them. They have two baskets that appear to be full of beading and textiles and the woman at the left holds moccasins. The younger woman at the right wears earrings, a necklace and beaded moccasins and holds her dark shawl tightly around her shoulders. Her bright red skirt complements the lovely blue underskirt. She addresses the viewer, shyly looking to her left. Her older companion is cast in shadow.

Might these women be in a market building? Have they come to sell their wares? Two similar women with baskets occupy the lower left corner of Raphael’s 1880 canvas of Saint Paul Street in front of Montreal’s Bonsecours Market (National Gallery of Canada, acc.no 46501) where people came from the country and outlying villages to sell their produce.

Indigenous women bringing embroidered moccasins and bags, woven baskets, berries and other material to the city was a theme much favoured by Cornelius Krieghoff. His subjects are always depicted walking in the country, in a summer, autumn or winter landscape. One canvas depicts a moccasin vendor on the street in winter in front of the artist’s studio, but never in interiors. His women are stolid and still, somewhat emotionless, beautiful stock figures or types.

In contrast Raphael’s figure exudes humanity. Seated at the centre of the light coming from the window and falling on the floorboards and wall, her physical presence fills the space. The carefully nuanced palette brings out the illuminated colours of her skirts and baskets. The light caresses her face. She is somewhat shy and curious at the same time, observed and observing.

Born in Nakel, Prussia and educated at the Royal Academy of Art in Berlin, Raphael brought with him a Germanic tradition of figure painting when he arrived in Montreal in 1857. In the 1860s he painted portraits, still lifes and city views that combine topography and genre, most notably in his famous painting of 1866 depicting people grouped behind Bonsecours Market (National Gallery of Canada, acc. no. 6673). He was undoubtedly attracted to the costumes and characteristics unique to Quebec, be it the garb of a habitant in a rustic interior (a theme he treated in several paintings) or women bringing their wares to market. There is no record of Raphael having exhibited such a subject in group exhibitions and this appears to be his only treatment of this subject, an intimate and very affectionate depiction of life in his new home.

We extend our thanks to Charles Hill, Canadian art historian, former Curator of Canadian Art at the National Gallery of Canada and author of “The Group of Seven‒Art for a Nation”, for his assistance in researching this artwork and for contributing the preceding essay.