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Item Name: Painting
Title: Untitled
Maker: Dorothy Knowles
Year: 1964
Country: Canadian
Materials: watercolour on paper
Measurements: overall: 54.2 cm x 73.9 cm
ID Number: PC83.1.27
Legal Status: PERMANENT COLLECTION


Extended Label Info: A wonderful sense of light, color and atmosphere present in all her paintings is what made Dorothy Knowles one of Canada’s most distinguished landscape artists. Her ability to paint directly from her surroundings was a skill that came naturally to Knowles. This aided her ability to master conveying the Prairie’s openness and distinct features. In a van that was her portable studio, Knowles ventured outside of Saskatoon painting scenes in the outdoors. In Untitled, there is a sense of realness, and perhaps urgency. The prairie wind is evident, with a threat of an impending storm. With a skilled hand, assured of her brushwork and color choice, Knowles’ watercolor paintings stand as masterful topographic portraits of the light-filled Saskatchewan landscape. Dorothy Knowles (1927- ) was born near Unity, Saskatchewan and is considered one of Canada’s top landscape painters. Having initially studied biology at the University of Saskatchewan, Knowles decided to pursue art in the late 1940s and early 1950s, through the University of Saskatchewan, Emma Lake workshops, the Banff Centre, and the Goldsmith School of Art, in London, England. A turning point in her career came at an Emma Lake Artists’ Workshop in 1962 when she was encouraged by the American critic, Clement Greenberg, to pursue painting from nature regardless of the contemporary predominance of abstraction. She has continued to paint prolifically in watercolour, acrylic and oil throughout her career – working in a variety of different ways and using a wide range of subject matter. Knowles was awarded the Medal of Saskatchewan in 1987 and received the Order of Canada in 2004. Her work is found in numerous public and private collections.