Mary Pratt: A Love Affair with Vision

by Anne Koval

Mary Pratt’s art has captivated millions of Canadians. Her luminescent paintings capture reality in a way that few artists have been able to achieve — the chip in a glass bowl, the play of light across a dish-strewn supper table, the vulnerability of a naked woman. Replete with symbolism, Pratt’s work elevates the traditional still life by transforming the everyday into the iconic. Art historian Anne Koval wrote Mary A Love Affair with Vision in close consultation with Pratt. The book is informed by extensive interviews with the artist, and her family, friends, and colleagues and by unprecedented access to Pratt’s archival holdings at Mount Allison University. This in-depth study of Pratt’s life and work explores the complex issues of gender, feminism, and realism in Canadian art, resulting in a richly layered biography of an artist who redefined the visual culture of her period and whose art and life intersect in varied and surprising ways.

320 pages, Hardcover

Published October 3, 2023

Reviews

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the only authorized biography of Mary Pratt, the acclaimed award-winning Canadian painter known for her distinctive photorealistic style. Koval worked in close collaboration with Pratt who shared her journals, allowed access to her archives at Mount Allison University, submitted to in depth interviews and encouraged the participation of her family, friends and colleagues so Koval could present this in-depth study of her life and work. It begins with her childhood growing up in Fredericton New Brunswick and continues up until Pratt’s death in 2018. Koval has carefully and meticulously annotated her narrative and included beautiful photographs of many of Pratt’s iconic work, producing a volume that both art lovers and the general public will appreciate.

What is especially helpful is having Pratt speak to the provenance of many of her pieces, explaining what inspired them, the issues she faced to complete them and pointing out the small but subtle details that have significant meaning. Her willingness to share her journals which contained her most intimate thoughts are also a gift not every artist would willingly share, allowing those who admire her work, an even greater understanding of the woman, her marriage to fellow artist Christopher Pratt and how she evolved as a woman, a wife, a mother and an artist.

Although Mary Pratt was born and raised in Fredericton, she spent most of her life in Newfoundland. She attended Mount Allison University and studied fine art under Ted Pulford, Alex Coville and Lawren Harris. She met Christopher Pratt at the university and they married in 1957 when both were very young. Over the years they had four children and Mary spent most of her early marriage raising the child and keeping house.

It was on a fall morning in 1968 when she entered the bedroom she shared with her husband in Salmonier Newfoundland and saw the unmade bed with the light reflected off the river spilling over it. She was struck by the way the light illuminated this familiar object and that vision became a life changing moment, giving her a physical connection to the image. It was the moment she found her artistic voice. She knew she had to paint it, so she quickly put her domestic chores aside and began a drawing.

So she began painting everyday domestic objects, fascinated by how the light made what appeared mundane, look exceptional. They were the first step in crafting her signature photorealistic style, a process added to when her husband Christopher, realizing the light would quickly fade, photographed a scene, capturing the moment when she first saw it and allowing her a reference point so she could paint it later. It was a time in her life when whatever painting she was able to do was usually interrupted by domestic duties as she cared for the children through childhood illnesses, made hundreds of meals, did the laundry and tended to their many visitors. She began using the camera as an integral part of her work, recording anything that excited her, often items from her kitchen, such as baked apples, fresh bread, eggs, fish or the cluttered supper table.

Koval’s narrative contains technical information about Pratt’s painting process that can be interesting even to those who know little about art. She marks her progress as she moved on from painting domestic subjects to other subjects such as wedding dresses, animals, snow and ice, her work still concentrated on showing how what many considered mundane, could be beautiful.

Although she had been exhibiting her work in galleries since the late sixties, it was not until the mid-seventies that Pratt’s work captured wider public attention. From that time on, she had a celebrated career in Canadian art that continued until her death in 2018. Many Canadians are familiar with the distinctive scenes she painted with radiant colors, many of which are housed in Canadian art galleries and one of which appeared on a Canadian stamp.

Koval also covers the painful ups and downs of her marriage, its final dissolution after her husband’s affairs and how it cost her personally. After subjugating her career so Christopher could paint, she felt duped and angry. Although she does not avoid the subject, she is careful and thoughtful in voicing these emotions.

Koval has presented a comprehensive interpretation of Pratt’s life through her art, giving readers a detailed, informative, biography of this unique artist, often using Pratt’s voice throughout the narrative. She shows how Pratt’s belief in taking simple objects and making them profound, pointed the way for audiences to see there is beauty and much to think about in simplicity.

[Wendell Hennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have long been an admirer and fan of Mary Pratt. This has to be the most in depth researched biography I have ever read. Compiled with the cooperation of Mary Pratt before her passing, the benefit of her journals, and the assistance of her family members. The added bonus are the analysis of Mary's technique and commentary from critics and other artists, explaining what it is that speaks to us from Mary's paintings. An absolutely brilliant book, thank you thank you.

[Linda Churchill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a beautiful book of a fascinating artist.