Salute to Canada's impressionist, Helen McNicoll

Helen McNicoll, The Brown Hat, c. 1906. Art Gallery of Ontario. This is one of McNicoll’s earliest known paintings and displayed in 1906 at one of her first exhibitions. The austere background and mood suggest McNicoll may have painted it prior to 1906 when she was a student in London and Montreal, the label said.  Although it is not believed to be a self-portrait, it shows her style before she found “light.”

Helen McNicoll, Midsummer, c. 1909, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia

Who was Helen McNicoll and why should we care?

Helen McNicoll, Study of a Child, c. 1913, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.  Although McNicoll never used the word "mother" in any of her titles, she often painted women as caregivers, working in and around the home. The label noted that McNicoll joined Mary Cassatt and Berthe Morisot describing the value of women's work, juxtaposed beside subjects chosen by male artists.

Not only was she Canadian (drawing more attention than usual because of the White House occupant's obsession with Canada), but she was a fine impressionist and featured artist in a show ending earlier this year at the National Museum of Fine Arts of Québec, Helen McNicoll An Impressionist Journey.

Helen McNicoll, Beneath the Trees, c. 1910, McNicoll Canadian Art Collection

Helen McNicoll, The Apple Gatherer, c. 1911, Art Gallery of Hamilton. When exhibited in 1911, the Montreal press praised this "delightfully sunshiny pictures of which Miss McNicoll is now an almost perfect master," blending impressionism and plein air naturalism.

Helen McNicoll, The Apple Gatherer (detail)

Helen McNicoll, Garden, 1913, Pierre Lassonde Collection

Helen McNicoll, Garden (detail), 1913, Pierre Lassonde Collection

Upon first glance her style immediately brings to mind that of Mary Cassatt with whom she shared many commonalities. 

The two artists often lived about the same time, McNicoll (1879-1915) and Cassatt (1844-1926). They spent part of their adult lives studying and painting abroad, in London (McNicoll) and France (Cassatt).

Helen McNicoll, Picking Flowers, c. 1912, Art Gallery of Ontario.  The label said this was likely made when McNicoll was traveling and based on a plein-air study.

Helen McNicoll, Fishing, c. 1907, private collection. McNicoll's companion, Dorothea Sharp, carried "pretty frocks" which fishermen's children loved to wear when modeling for the artist.  See below.

Helen McNicoll, The Children's Playground, 1912, private collection.

Helen McNicoll, Landscape, c. 1910, Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection

McNicoll and Cassatt both painted domestic scenes in soft colors with children and women the frequent subjects amidst pleasant almost idyllic backdrops.  

Neither married nor had children. They shared a close bond with female companions. Both came from wealthy families.  

At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, McNicoll was in France, soon forced home by her father. She died the next year in England. 

Helen McNicoll, Venice, 1910, Pierre Lassonde Collection

Helen McNicoll, The Open Door, c. 1913, Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection.

Helen McNicoll, The Gleaner, 1910, Pierre Lassonde Collection. Her face seems a bit rough for a woman as she almost sneers.  Unhappy in her work?

Helen McNicoll, Stubble Fields, c. 1912, National Gallery of Canada. Shortly after this was exhibited, it was purchased by the National Gallery which, the label noted, boosted the artist's confidence.

 

Helen McNicoll, This Gleaner was painted in 1908, again with a red, rough face, almost identical to the Gleaner above, painted two years later and in similar apparel. Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection

Helen McNicoll, The Chintz Sofa, 1913, Pierre Lassonde Collection. The woman may be Dorothea Sharp who shared this studio with McNicoll in London.  The label said the woman pictured may be sewing mementos for the women's suffrage campaign in England. This work in 2023 produced the highest price, $653,775, that I found for a McNicoll.

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Helen McNicoll, The Victorian Dress, c. 1914, Art Canada Institute

Helen McNicoll, Evening Street Scene, c. 1910, Women's Art Association of Canada

Helen McNicoll,, The Avenue, 1912, Pierre Lassonde Collection. This reminds me of several of van Gogh's.

Helen McNicoll, Montreal Snowstorm, c. 1911, Pierre Lassonde Collection

Helen McNicoll, Fruit Vendor, 1910, Pierre Lassonde Collection. The label noted that most of the artist's markets were French scenes but this one was in Venice.  The girl wears a black shawl, then (and now) in vogue and shows three women in various roles.

Helen McNicoll, In the Market, Montreuil, 1912, private collection.

Helen McNicoll, The Market Cart, Brittany, 1910, Robert McLaughlin Gallery 

Helen McNicoll, The Market Cart, Brittany, 1910, Robert McLaughlin Gallery 

Unknown photographer, Helen McNicoll in her studio, c. 1906, Robert McLaughlin Gallery Archives

Helen McNicoll, Dorothea Sharp working with a child model, n.d., Robert McLaughlin Gallery Archives

 

McNicoll and Cassatt each suffered ill health, complications from diabetes leading to McNicoll's early death at age 35.  At age 2, she had scarlet fever which left her practically deaf and unable to communicate normally. 

And although she lived to age 82, Cassatt gave up painting at age 60 or 70 (sources vary) due to blindness.

In 2023 their art did meet in Cassatt — McNicoll: Impressionists Between Worlds at the Art Gallery of Ontario which has featured solo McNicoll exhibitions in the past.

I am sure there are other similarities which must be the subject of a dissertation or two. Here is a link is to a good article about the two artists in Art Herstory.

Searching Washington museums (the Phillips, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the National Gallery of Art), I found none with a McNicoll but they all have at least one Cassatt.  Yes:  Cassatt was American, but still... 

The highest price I found for a McNicoll was one she made likely of her companion, Dorothea Sharp, The Chintz Sofa (c.1912) which sold for $653,775 in 2023. Cassatt's high price was almost $7.4 million in 2022 for Young Lady in a Loge Gazing to Right.

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Modern women, modern art close Sunday at the Women's Museum

April Banks (b. 1972, Takoma Park, Maryland), Future Ancient, 2022, fused glass, cut metal, and LED light panel. The label says the work "proposes an alternate path to self-knowledge, equally focused on past lineage and future legacy."/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The large exhibition, New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024, featuring works by 28 women from around the globe (some of whom have more than one work on display) is set to close Sunday at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and if you want a glimpse of what the younger bunch (or those generally under age 50) is thinking artwise, rush to see it, but be advised, you'll want to hold on to your mind which may be blown away by the creativity and the artists' visions of the future, the past and present.

It's beyond the wildest of imaginations and all have a theme and deeply personal message about what they've done, the purpose and why they have used the materials they chose. 

But, hope for the future? 

I couldn't find any, maybe due to my (aging) shades and perspective. What I saw was a dark and gloomy vision of the future, but that was before Kamala was nominated. (She who brings joy.) Since then, perhaps there is room for some optimism? None I found here.

Kathryn Wat, deputy director for art, programs and public engagement and chief curator at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, welcomes visitors to the exhibition, New Worlds:  Women to Watch 2024. On the left is Intra-Venus, 2019-21 in carrara marble by Marina Vargas (b. 1980, Granada, Spain)/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Mona Cliff/HanukGahNé (Spotted Cloud, b. 1977, Prescott, AZ), Conjured Topography, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Prescoia seed beads, maple wood, beeswax, copal resin, pine resin, benzoin resin, and thread on plywood. The label says the "beads pay homage to nature" which required Cliff to spend "hundreds of hours adding thousands of beads to the wood surface," to honor "the labor-intensive work of women artisans."

Detail of Conjured Topography, 2022/Photo by Patricia Leslie

SHAN (sic) Wallace (b. 1991, Baltimore), Pale Blue Egun, 2024.  Flashe, gesso, paper, gouache, oil stick, shells, and crackle paste on wood/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The label says the artist "pays homage to the spectrum of Black experience in the United States" fusing "folklore and fantasy to explore belief systems and rituals related to death for the Black community. Motifs such as dice, shells, and a chicken serve as offerings for or methods of communication with the dead."

NMWA’s Women to Watch series is presented every three years and features emerging and underrepresented women artists who work in regions of the world where the museum has outreach committees.

On its website, NMWA notes that in the last decade just 11 percent of all acquisitions by "prominent American museums" were by women. With its promotion and exhibitions, NMWA hopes to draw greater attention to this dearth of female artists presence.

Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya (b. 1988, Atlanta), the primitive sign of wanting, 2024,
vintage TV screens, raspberry pis, and internet-connected receipt printers which invites viewer to interact with the work by scanning a QR code found on one of the screens/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The label quotes the artist who says her work is a “'call to moral vigilance,'” inviting "viewers to consider the ethical implications of human advancement in the face of climate change and rapidly changing technology. Assembled from discarded artifacts and found objects, this interactive installation challenges visitors to confront their moral biases about issues facing us today—and to imagine the possibilities of tomorrow." 

Detail of the primitive sign of wanting, 2024/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Detail of the primitive sign of wanting, 2024/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Sophia Pompéry (b. 1984, Berlin), Fluten (Floods), 2023
Steel, perforated latex, and LED lights/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The label says "Pompéry’s practice lies at the intersection of art, science, and philosophy, investigating the artifice of constructs such as money, units of measure, and time. Fluten comprises an aerial map of recorded levels of light pollution in the Arctic Circle.  The haphazard placement of the rods implies the futility of creating records of the natural world—its time scale is beyond human comprehension."

Irene Fenara (b. 1990, Bologna, Italy), Three Thousand TIgers, 2020
Wool and silk tapestry/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The label says: "Fenara explores how technology can change our perception of reality. The artist feeds a data set of three thousand images of tigers—approximately the current number of living tigers in the wild—into a generative algorithm" resulting in "a distorted digital fauna."

She then "turned the patterns into tapestries, referring to the practice of making animal-hide rugs, and had them produced in India, where most living tigers are found."  I can't see any tigers here, but my imagination is more limited than the computer's.

Detail of Three Thousand TIgers, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Detail of Three Thousand TIgers, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Molly Vaughan (b. 1977, London) Project 42: Gwen Amber Rose Araju, Newark, CA, 2021/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Inkjet- and silkscreen-printed fabrics with headdress. The label says this "responds to violence toward transgender people in the United States. The artist and her team create garments that commemorate the lives of murdered transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals. Using Google Earth, Vaughan takes screen shots of locations where these murders have occurred. She manipulates the digital images to create abstract patterns, printing them on fabric to make into clothing that can be worn by a collaborator during an activation."

Nicki Green (b. 1986, Boston), 
Anointed (double bidet basin with faucets), 2019/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Glazed vitreous china with epoxy. The label says Green "interrogates gendered binaries of Judaic ritual baths that complicate participation for trans individuals. Drawing from her Jewish background and gender politics, she transforms urinals and bidets into sacred wash basins that can affirm the holiness of trans bodies." This is one of two works on this theme by Green in the exhibition.

Ana María Hernando (b. 1959, Buenos Aires), detail of 
Nadar en el diluvio de aguas caldas (To Swim in the Deluge of Warm Waters), 2024/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Tulle, wood, metal lattice, and felt.
The label says the artist includes "association with feminine clothing and sewing" to create "monuments that celebrate the collective work of generations of unacknowledged women. Her works manifest the feminine as joyful and inexorable."

Works pictured above are those which were of the most interest to me, but all of them produced interest and awe.  You'll see!

Two local artists (April Banks, Takoma Park, MD, and SHAN (sic) Wallace, Baltimore) are represented.

A soft cover exhibition catalog of 100 pages is available in the shop or online for $23.95.

What: New Worlds:  Women to Watch, 2024


When: Closing Sunday, August 11, 2024. The museum is open Tuesday through Sundays, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

Where: The National Museum of Women in the Arts, 1250 New York Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005

Admission: $16, adults; $13, D.C. residents and those over age 70; free admission for members, those under age 21, and disabled persons and attendant. Free for all on the first Sunday and second Wednesday of every month.

For more information: 202-783-5000 or visit nmwa.org.

Metro stations: Metro Center (exit at 13th Street and walk two blocks north) or (better) walk a short distance from McPherson Square.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Textiles and modern abstraction close Sunday at the National Gallery of Art

Ann Hamilton (b. 1956), (side by side.coats), 2018/2023.  The label says Ms. Hamilton worked on her art in northern Portugal, sourcing fleeces from a local farmer and using coats from secondhand shops to show "enduring interdependencies: between human and animal, manufactured and organic, nurture and sacrifice." Loaned by the artist/By Patricia Leslie

The National Gallery of Art hosts a large show, Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction, in eight rooms to display some 160 works by 50 artists from around the globe. Their art begins with the first World War and continues to present day.

The exhibition brings to mind the question: Why have textiles and related arts taken a back seat to oil, sculpture, prints and drawings and other fine arts?*

The fact that textiles and woven arts are usually associated with women likely plays a role. 

Sophie Taeuber-Arp, 1889-1943, Cushion Panel (detail), 1916 (facsimile 2021) cross-stitch embroidery. Loaned by the Museum of Design, Zurich. Silhouettes of viewers are reflected in the protective glass/By Patricia Leslie

Jeffrey Gibson (b. 1972), from left, The Past as Future Artifact (Mask 2), 2020, The Anthropophagic Effect, Helmet No. 2, 2019, and The Anthropophagic Effect, Helmet No. 1, 2019.  Materials used included birch bark, pine resin, porcupine quills, brass bells, metal jingles, turquoise, and beeswax. Loaned by the artist/By Patricia Leslie

These artists produce their works for the same reasons as other artists: to effect political and social change, to capitalize on change, to build momentum for matters of the time, to promote more awareness of cultural and historical change, to enjoy beauty, to document scenes from current events, to express themselves.

Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979), Electric Prisms (detail), 1913, Davis Museum at Wellesley College/By Patricia Leslie

Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979), Groupe de femmes, 1923-1924, watercolor, colored inks and graphite on paper glued on cardboard, Centre Pompidou, Paris/By Patricia Leslie

In a textiles gallery at the National Galley of Art, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Eden Gallery with offices around the world may have answers to why these arts have not enjoyed the same prestige and importance as other "fine arts."

On its website, Eden asks:

What exactly is fine art, and how has its definition changed over the centuries?

Art, in its broadest sense, embodies the act of crafting something unique that tantalizes our visual or auditory senses. Fine art, often labeled as "high art," stands as the pinnacle of artistic expression, emphasizing aesthetics over functionality. This inherent aesthetic quality sets fine art apart from "low arts" which are crafted with a more utilitarian purpose in mind.

Yet, as the art world continues to evolve, the once-clear boundaries that defined what is "high" or "low" art blur. This prompts the question: should any art form be considered superior to another in today's democratized art landscape?

Sonia Delaunay, 1885-1979, from left, Summer Dress, c. 1926, printed silk and Dress, c. 1926, printed and pleated silk. Private collection/By Patricia Leslie

The artists explain their various techniques of weaving, knitting, netting, knotting, and felting** and the reasons why they choose the mediums they do.  

Here I've included artworks which I found of particular interest, and without paying attention to the artists' names as I photograhed them, I was struck later as I write this, that of the few I chose for this blog post, three are by Sonia Delaunay 1885-1979.

Olga de Amaral (b. 1932), Cintas Entrelazadas, c. 1969, wool and cotton. Loaned by the artist/By Patricia Leslie

Marilou Schultz (b. 1954), Replica of a Chip (detail), 1994, wool. The label says the Intel Corporation commissioned Ms. Schultz, a Native American weaver, "to make a blanket featuring their Pentium microprocessor," using the traditional techniques that she learned as a child growing up on the reservation. The company proposed "affinities between Native American aesthetics and advanced technologies" as part of its marketing campaign. Loaned by the American Indian Science and Engineering Society/By  Patricia Leslie

Ellen Lesperance (b. 1971), Cardigan Worn by One Woman of the Boeing Five,  Tried for Entering the Boeing Nuclear Missile Plant on September 27th, 1983, Sentenced to Fifteen Days in the King County Jail for Defending Life on Earth, 2011. Loaned by Brooklyn Museum/By Patricia Leslie

Liz Collins (b. 1968) and Gary Graham (b.1969) (GRIZ), Pride Dress from the Seven Deadly Sins series, 2003. Loaned by Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design/By Patricia Leslie

Liz Collins (b. 1968) and Gary Graham (b.1969) (GRIZ), Pride Dress from the Seven Deadly Sins series, 2003. Loaned by Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design/By Patricia Leslie

A hardback catalog, Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abraction of almost 300 pages with 200 colored illustrations is available in the shops, online at shop.nga.gov, and by phone, 800-697-9350 for $32.50. Accompanying products are available.

The exhibition comes to NGA after its showing at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and, after its stay in Washington, will travel to the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (November 8, 2024–March 2, 2025) and then, the Museum of Modern Art, New York (April 20–September 13, 2025).

Lynne Cooke, senior curator in the department of special projects in modern art, National Gallery of Art, curated the exhibition.

*After you've seen the show, maybe you can answer the question.

**sculpting and making figures and shapes from wool 

Hannah Höch is one of the artists included in this show and for more on her, go here where she's included in a book on Da Da.

What: Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction

When: Through July 28, 2024. The National Gallery hours are 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily.

Where: East Building Concourse and Ground Floor, National Gallery of Art, 6th and Constitution, Washington

How much: Admission is always free at the National Gallery of Art.

Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: (202) 737-4215

Accessibility information: (202) 842-6905


patricialesli@gmail.com