The Ambush

 I continue today where I left off yesterday. This is Ottawa, by Pegi Nicol MacLeod. She was a civilian commissioned by the National Gallery to document women in the armed forces during the Second World War. This vibrant work includes landmarks of the city as seen from the south end of Confederation Square.

Here we have Salmon In The Galley, a 1944 work by MacLeod.

The Cold War would see subtle shifts in art by women in regards to the military.

This portrait by Brenda Bury dates to 1959, and is Major Edna Esther Andrews.

Here we have Weapons Technician, a 1980 work by Catherine de Wolfe.

This is The Ambush, a 1979 painting by Judith Hamilton.

Rainbow in Esquimalt is by Barbara Greene, depicting a Canadian submarine at its home port.

This painting is titled God Speed, a 1991 work by Mary Leach and Wendy Threthewey.

I finish today with this large portrait. One Way Passage is by Barbara Tosh, done in 2001, depicting her war bride mother Dorothy Hope.

Inspiration

 Here we have the model of a full scale work. The Welland-Crowland War Memorial is a 1934 work by Elizabeth Wyn-Wood. She designed the memorial, residing in the town of Welland, Ontario, to feature both the soldier and a woman harvester.

Larger scale plaster busts are featured here from her designs.

Molly Lamb Bobak went to war in the Canadian Women's Army Corps, and by 1945 was officially commissioned as a war artist. This is Canadian Women Army Corps Looking At The Ruins.

Mary Riter Hamilton painted Gun Emplacements, Farbus Woods, Vimy Ridge in 1919, commissioned by a veterans group to paint battlegrounds after the Great War.

This is another work by Molly Lamb Bobak- Meal Parade, Hamilton Trades School, a 1943 painting.

And this is her work Basic Trainees Learning To Stand At Ease, a 1946 painting.

One of her most famous works is Private Foy, Canadian Women's Army Corps, depicting Eva Roy, a black servicewoman.

For today I finish off with Lady Drummond, by Florence Carlyle, painted around 1918, depicting the assistant commissioner of the Canadian Red Cross during the Great War.

Witnesses

 Women Making Shells is a large painting by Mabel May dating to 1919, depicting the factory setting of work to help the war effort of the Great War.

Alma Duncan created Interior Of Boiler Shop (Ship Building) in 1943.

Two sculptures face each other in a display case, the product of a partnership in life and art between the two artists. The Rod Turner is by Frances Loring, done in 1918-19. Furnace Man is by Florence Wyle, also from the same time.

Here we have Maintenance Jobs In The Hangar by Paraskeva Clark, a 1945 work.

Nesta Bowen Horne painted this work, a portrait of Mary Laura Mah (Wong), a Chinese-Canadian woman who served in the Canadian Women's Army Corps.

Lilias Torrance Newton was commissioned to paint portraits of soldiers during World War Two. Seen here is Canadian Soldier No. 3 in full and Post Card, Canadian Soldier.

Cathryne Blackley Armstrong painted Decontamination Squad around 1942-44.

This is No. 8 Canadian General Hospital Saint Cloud France, a 1918 work by Caroline Armington.

Museum

 Earlier in the month I made a return visit to the Canadian War Museum. Its present headquarters has been here on Lebreton Flats since 2005, after outgrowing its previous location. Its architecture feels like a bunker, entirely appropriate to its theme.

The John McCrae Gallery hosts temporary exhibits. On now into early January is the exhibit Outside the Lines: Women Artists and War.

The exhibit starts with two paintings, decades apart but with commonalities- the presence of women in military duties. This is Gas Drill by Molly Lamb Bobak, done in 1944.

Gertrude Kearns painted Stack in 2004, at a time when women had long since been part of front line operations.

The exhibit looks into women depicting military life in the 19th century from the outside, where they were witnesses to it.

This is the sketchbook of Elizabeth Hale, the wife of an officer, depicting Block House, Cove Fields, part of the defensive structure of Quebec City.

Millicent Mary Chaplin painted Monument To Wolfe and Montcalm, Quebec between 1838-42. The monument pays tribute to the British and French generals who led their forces at the decisive Battle of the Plains of Abraham during the French and Indian War, and who both died in the wake of that battle.

Eveline Alexander, the wife of an officer, etched this- Grand Military Steeplechase at London, Canada West 9th May 1843 in 1845.

Katherine Jane Ellice did this watercolour, View From The Battery At Quebec in 1838.

Two world wars would have a huge effect on society as a whole, especially for women. We'll pick up here tomorrow.