When Rollande by Montreal artist Prudence Heward (1896–1947) was shown in February 1930 as part of the Fifth Annual Exhibition of Canadian Art at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, the painting was singled out as a showstopper. The Regina Leader wrote: “No picture is attracting more appreciative attention than ‘Rollande,’ by Prudence Heward, the young Montreal artist who took first place last year in the Lord Willingdon competitions with her painting ‘Girl on Hill.’” The painting continued to receive positive reviews when it was exhibited in the United States in 1930, and in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and South Africa in 1936.
Prudence Heward, Rollande, 1929
Oil on canvas, 139.9 x 101.7 cm, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Heward often painted women in rural settings. She enjoyed painting and sketching landscapes around Fernbank (Athens, Brockville), where her family had a cottage, as well as areas of rural Quebec (Knowlton, Laurentians, Eastern Townships), which she incorporated into many of her portraits of women.
It’s unclear how Heward and the work’s sitter Rollande came to know each other. The subject is depicted with a tight mouth and angled eyebrows, giving her an intense, even angry, appearance: Heward established a pattern of illustrating solitary women as modern, self-contained subjects.
This Spotlight is excerpted from Prudence Heward: Life & Work by Julia Skelly.
Capturing the Lion
Royal Representation
Nostalgic narrative
Setting New Boundaries
Drifting through Meaning
Glass Transformations
Breaking the Frame
Painting the Unseen
The Face as a Canvas
Unpacking Identity
Boy in Blue
Cutting Edge
Moving Memories
The Weight of Absence
Abstract Alberta
The Art of the Body
Rococo Riff
In Memory of Monet
Pyramid Scheme
Transportive Trunks