By a Lady: Celebrating Three Centuries of Art by Canadian Women

Patricia Morley is a professor of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University, an associate fellow of the Simone de Beauvoir
Institute, and author of Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Home.

“Lady” artists in Canada? After Emily Carr has been named, the
silence might be deafening. Tippett has set out to undo our shameful
collective ignorance.

By a Lady (a Victorian phrase) is more than a well-designed
large-format book with high-quality paper and numerous illustrations,
both color and black and white. It also has a substantial text, the
product of years of extensive research.

The photographs alone a long way toward setting the record straight.
They include the work of Mary Pratt, Joyce Wieland, Frances Loring,
Thérиse Joyce-Gagnon, Cecil Buller, Edna Tacon, Shirley Wiitasalo,
Christiane Pflug, Prudence Heward, Henrietta Mabel May, Lilian Freiman,
Betty Goodwin, Marian Dale Scott, Elizabeth Wyn Wood, Florence Wylie,
Molly Lamb Bobak, and Anne Savage. These are only a few of the painters,
printmakers, and sculptors who fill Tippett’s pages with strong, fresh
work.

Tippett, author of several books on Canadian art and culture, has
taught and lectured in this area for many years. Her theme provided an
embarrassment of riches. Despite the fact that women artists have
suffered under social constraints, have been given fewer grants and
fewer still exhibitions, and have been grossly neglected in earlier
histories of Canadian art, they have survived and flourished. The
negative stereotypes have no foundation in fact.

Tippett’s text is biographical, historical, and critical. One may
fault individual inclusions and omissions, but the total achievement is
impressive. Canada’s women artists represent a magnificent body of
work, a proud heritage. An enormous task has been tackled and done well.