Kastel Gallery, Montreal
Private Collection, Montreal
A founding member of the Beaver Hall Group and the Canadian Group of Painters, Henrietta Mabel May was referred to by an art crtitic as the "Emily Carr of Montreal". In 1950, after twelve years at the National Gallery of Canada instructing children’s art classes, May moved to Vancouver to be closer to her sisters. Despite having relocated to the west coast with the goal of retirement, a retrospective show of one hundred paintings occurred.
Horseshoe Bay is on the western tip of West Vancouver at the entrance to Howe Sound. Instead of depicting the bay, May has focused on a rocky outcrop on a path leading to it. This later work conveys the influence of both the Impressionists and the Group of Seven, but with a unique, more simplified colour palette and composition.
