Provenance
Sale of Heffel Fine Art Auction House, Saturday, November 26, 2016, lot 813
Private collection, Calgary
Laura Muntz lived in Paris from 1893 to October 1898, and during this period her career and practice flourished. At a time when living as a single woman in most society was uncommon, Muntz supported herself with her art, teaching and administrative work, and became one of the first Canadian women artists recognized internationally. Her work from this period shows the increasing influence of the Impressionist style on her painting technique, and in French River Scene. Muntz makes work of soft brushwork across the canvas to render the calm, reflective river.
1860-1930 Laura Adeline Muntz Lyall came to Canada as a child and settled on a farm in Muskoka. She began her formal art training at 23, studying privately with J.W.L. Forster, and she became a school teacher in Hamilton. In 1887 she studied at South Kensington, and later in Paris…
1860-1930
Laura Adeline Muntz Lyall came to Canada as a child and settled on a farm in Muskoka. She began her formal art training at 23, studying privately with J.W.L. Forster, and she became a school teacher in Hamilton. In 1887 she studied at South Kensington, and later in Paris at the Académie Colarossi under J. Leblanc and others. She received honorable mention in 1895 at the Paris Salon, won a bronze medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904 and a silver medal at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901. A painting by her was purchased by the National Gallery of Canada in 1910. She is represented at the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Parliament Buildings in Toronto, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, Vancouver Art Gallery and private collections in New York, Chicago and throughout Canada. She was elected an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1895. Following the death of her sister, she took nine years away from her career to raise her sister’s eleven children. She is known in particular for her images of maternité.
