Mary Francis Pratt (1935–2018)

It's not Mary Pratt's fault that I expected a memoir. It's the publisher's fault for printing the dust jacket flaps in nearly illegible white on ombré red/maroon. Had I been able to tell at a glance that it was a collection of essays, addresses, and journal excerpts, I would have been much less surprised. As it was, I knew very little about her life and work before I read the book and although I do know more after, I learned more about the facts of her life from the ARTSatlantic interview that a former owner inserted inside the back cover than I did from the book per se. There are some gorgeous reproductions of her artwork in the book, some her own studio work-in-progress photos. Occasionally the text will describe her working on a painting that isn't shown (I'd so love to see the pastel of the Northern Lights) but on the whole it's well illustrated. This book is really for people well up on the Canadian and Newfoundland art world, not those who glean much of their information about Canadian art from the occasional gallery visit and from careful attention to commemorative postage stamps (the Mary Pratt stamps of 2007 were beautiful). Nonetheless I enjoyed reading it.… (más)