Maud Lewis

Maud Lewis was an artist who lived in Nova Scotia. Lewis always kept mainly to herself and because of rheumatoid arthritis and other physical handicaps she could not work. Her husband Everett, who was a fish peddler, sold her paintings and Christmas cards she had hand drawn as he went door to door selling fish. Lewis and Everett lived in poverty for most of their life, getting by on the fish and her art.

Lewis' style of painting was similar to how you would create a paint-by-numbers. She outlined the image on a canvas and then painted with color directly from the tube, never mixing. Simplistic and beautifully child-like, Maud Lewis' paintings are some of my favorite paintings. I love the snowy landscapes complimented by her use of bold primary colors to paint houses and animals. "Three Black Cats" is a personal favorite. And the painting with the giant cow stopping the car! So funny!

 

Lewis lived with her husband Everett in a tiny cottage that she had painted herself. Because of her somewhat compulsive artistic spirit, she ended up painting on almost every surface in the house possible. After Maud and Everett died in the 70's, the cottage began to deteriorate. Townspeople got together to save the house and in 1984 it was sold to the Province of Novia Scotia and it now resides in the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. The whole house!

I love art, all kinds of art, though I think the contemporary art world is sometimes moving more and more towards synthetic styles or artwork that, to me, evokes a sort of disconnect between the artist and their own work. Reading about Damien Hirst's dot paintings sort of made me hate contemporary art. I don't hate them for the old "oh my god, it's JUST dots that's not art!" perspective (god knows that's tiring) but I mean, his assistants were just mass producing the dot paintings. It's art, there is no doubting those paintings were works of art. But were they meaningful? What does it mean to be a good artist, anyway?

Sometimes I have to return to artists like Daniel Johnston, Henry Darger, and Maud Lewis to remind myself that art isn't always about social acceptance and monetary value. I don't expect everyone to see the beauty that I see in Maud Lewis' art, but I do hope they see the love and dedication. That's kind of what I'm looking for in art these days.