signed lower right
Provenance: purchased directly from the artist by the aunt (Sally Porter) of the current consignor; private collection, Massachusetts, USA
Note: This lot is accompanied by a copy of a letter dated July 21, 1966 describing the purchase of four works by Maud Lewis, reading in part:
“That morning I went down to Maud Lewis’s. She didn’t have one picture on hand. The tourist from all over Canada and the United States come to buy the pictures. I ordered 4 and I told her to hide them after they were done. She said she’ll have a couple done by next Tuesday so we’re going down next Tuesday at 6:30 to pick them up. I thought I’d better order 4 at 7 dollars each, as later on the prices may go up with such a great demand for them. As I get them I’ll mail them to you, as they are about 12 in by 14 in. Later on I’d like to pick one up now and then for myself, as I’d like to get a few before she dies. She’s now about 82 years old. She’s really the Grandma Moses of Canada. I’ll try to take a picture of the shack her + her husband live in. It’s just unbelievable. She’s a tiny wizzled up old lady. Really remarkable. Some say her little paintings will be worth plenty. She paints the same as Grandma Moses. Crude paintings but very colourful. I’ll also take a picture of her + her husband next Tuesday so that we’ll have one of them + their surroundings.”
The scene is one from a series of similar images painted by Maud Lewis late in her life at this locale, along Digby Neck, just west of the Lewis House in Marshalltown, N.S.
