Biography

Maud Lewis was born in Yarmouth County, and endured many hardships in her early life. As a teenager, she started to experience deformities of her face and hands as a result of a childhood disease. Maud married Everett Lewis, and together they lived in a small one room house with sleeping loft, without benefit of electricity or plumbing. Although she suffered from physical handicaps, she made hand drawn Christmas cards and later, small brightly coloured paintings, which she sold to help overcome their poverty. She also painted birds, flowers and butterflies on various parts of the tiny house in which they lived, and many articles within the house. In later years, her husband Everett also began to paint.

Examples of Maud's art can be found in the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, which has reconstructed her house and installed it in the gallery as part of a permanent Maud Lewis exhibit. Her work can also be found in the Canadian Museum of Civilization. She is the subject of a book, "The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis", and a stage play has been written about her life. She is also the subject of two National Film Board of Canada documentaries, "Maud Lewis - A World Without Shadows" (1997), and "The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis" (1998). Maud Lewis is featured in NPR's "Home Is Where The Art Is: The Unlikely Story Of Folk Artist Maud Lewis". See the CBC 1965 video about Maud Lewis by clicking here and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia video Maud Lewis' Painted House by clicking here.

Ref: Marie Ellwood, Folk Art of Nova Scotia (1976); Kobayashi/Bird, A Compendium of Canadian Folk Artists (1985); A.G.N.S., Nova Scotia Folk Art - Canada's Cultural Heritage (1989); Blake McKendry, An Illustrated Companion To Canadian Folk Art (1999), Bernard Riordon (Beaverbrook Gallery), Canadian Folk Art from the Collection of Susan A. Murray (2007).

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