Janet Mitchell: Life and Art

Patricia Vervoort is an assistant professor of art history at Lakehead
University.

This is a biography of Janet Mitchell (b. 1912), an artist from Calgary.
There are a vast number of color reproductions of Mitchell’s art works
and many black-and-white photographs of the artist and her friends. A
two-page preface by Joan Murray aims to place Mitchell in the context of
Canadian art and particularly in association with automatism, to which
Mitchell was introduced by her friend Marion Nicoll. “Mitchell never
became a fully abstract artist.” Nevertheless, her work is lightly
compared to that of Marc Chagall and Paul Klee.

Armstrong’s biography of Mitchell is lengthy and detailed; it is
based on interviews with the artist. Written sources include some
letters and newspaper reviews of art exhibits in Calgary and Edmonton.
Largely a self-taught artist, Mitchell worked as a tax assessor until
1963, when her circumstances allowed her to become a full-time artist.
The details of Mitchell’s life are recorded, but the discussion of art
works is minimal—for example, “Round and Round (circa 1985) is a
vibrant, energetic midway of color and action. It is probably the
largest acrylic painting that Mitchell has done.” This book remains a
biography, but should provide the basis for a future critical study of
Mitchell’s art.