2003-01-22 CC Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Painted in 1879, "Shooting the Rapids," a dramatic oil on canvas, c:aptulI"es the essence of a thirtyosiJ!:-foot long freight canoe being steered through treachero~s white water by 16 four passengers in the middle, side by side, iFrarJces Anne Hopkins. [Photo, courtesy The Hopkins record for posterity a realistic portrait or the \I'lJorid-famous canoe brigades and lumber raft scenes of Canada's legendary waterways before such canoe travel, as a primary commercial system of transportation, succumbed to railways and before photographers replaced artists in documenting life in the wiidenless theatre. Her images are far better known around the world than she as an artist in her own and adopted countries. The north, the wilderness, the canoe and the fur trade help define a greatdeai or Canada's eariy history and are topics venerated by readers around the world, most of whom are familiar with the authentic and stirring images painted by Frances Anne Hopkins. An adventurous, stimulating, and creative artist, she, with such other women artists as Emi~y Carr, Paraskeva Clark, Peggy Nicol McLeod, Lilias Torrance NeWlon, Prudence Heward, was an imaginative interpreter of the Canadian experience. Larry Turner