Un Livre Ouvert 1900

In this large painting, Pemberton positions the woman on the left in the classic S shape as she holds the book on her lap while her long white gown drapes behind her outstretched leg, resting on an ottoman. The second woman, shown in frontal view, nestles against her companion’s shoulder, suggesting easy familiarity. Glowing embers in the fireplace reveal the mantlepiece and the wall behind the women, providing a counter to the strong light source illuminating their figures.

In August 1900, while on a long stay in Victoria, Pemberton sketched two acquaintances, Ethel Vantreight and Ellie Paddon, experimenting with different poses in several small sketches until she found a relationship between the women that appeared natural and intimate. Only then did she draw a life-size cartoon sketch before painting the canvas.

Un Livre Ouvert fits into the pattern of women artists who, though creating feminine domestic scenes, explored within them the stylistic challenges that nourished their creativity. Pemberton gambled that the jury for the Royal Academy of Arts would favour the theme, but she also wanted to challenge her own abilities by creating a carefully contrived composition that demanded both planning and aesthetic judgment.

Pemberton shipped the painting to London, where it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1901 with the title Interested in the coveted Gallery 1. Close by hung a portrait by her former art teacher, Arthur Cope (1857–1940). The immediate response was positive: the Victoria Daily Times commended proudly, “Miss Sophia Pemberton has distinguished herself in London… her picture ‘Interested’ was highly praised by critics.”

On her return to England in late 1902, Pemberton submitted the painting to the 1903 Paris Salon with the title by which it is known, Un Livre Ouvert. Reviews were positive: “[A] painting quite graceful in composition and expression, skilfully and harmoniously painted in a lovely colour,” wrote L’Européen.

Pemberton next arranged shipment of Un Livre Ouvert to the Manchester City Gallery and then, in 1904, to the exhibition of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in Montreal, where again it garnered praise. “Miss Sophie Pemberton of London,” wrote a reviewer, “is one of the most important of the one-work exhibitors.”  When the academicians voted by secret ballot to select works to send to the World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, later that year, this one was included.

Other Canadian artists with connections to England and France also painted scenes that appear as intimate glimpses into family life, and Pemberton knew at least two of them: Florence Carlyle (1864–1923) and Laura Muntz (1860–1930). A few years earlier, Muntz sketched two young children sharing a book in a work titled Interesting Story, 1898.