| BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS |
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A fascinating collection of portraits in charcoal, crayon and pastel by
Kathleen Shackleton is now on view in the print
room of the Art Association of Montreal, Sherbrooke
Street west. The exhibition includes a loan collection of Indian types
presented to Queen's University by E.R. Peacock on the occasion of Canada's
Diamond Jubilee in 1927; another of old type lumber-men of the Saguenay
district, lent by Price Brothers, another of types of new Canadians at the
Calgary folksong and handicraft festival; portraits of literary, social and
political lights; illustrations of "Legends of French Canada" by E.C. Woodley.
The almost universal success achieved by the artist in these widely divergent
fields is a striking tribute to her versatility. Whether she is depicting a super-civilized, sophisticated city woman or an Indian chief, an old man with more than his promised "three score and ten" behind him or a chubby papoose with everything ahead, Miss Shackleton gets under the skin of her subject, captures the distinctive inner spirit and transfers it, vibrant and alive, to paper. She is a master-craftsman, achieving with a clever economy of stroke the texture of hair, the limpid light of the eye, the strong bony structure and the soft flesh beneath glowing skin. Her portraits of men, particularly in black and white, are done with tremendous sureness of touch, spirit and dash. At the other end of her scale are the dainty, delicately drawn and tinted heads of women and children, full of character and charm. |