Landscape with Cows

Helen McNicoll was a Canadian Impressionist painter and one of the most notable women artists in Canada in the early 20th century. She played a very important role in popularizing Impressionism in Canada, at a time when it was still relatively unknown, with her lively representations of rural landscapes, intimate child subjects, and modern female figures. She also achieved considerable international success during her decade-long career. Before her early death, she was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1913 and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1914.

McNicoll spent considerable time in Europe and what is important, in France. Thanks to the journeys she had direct contact with innovative artistic styles, particularly Impressionism. Thirty years past its explosion onto the Paris art scene, the movement had lost much of its revolutionary charge but it was still popular and very influential. McNicoll was one of the first Canadian painters to achieve success working in this style, seen in her early effort with the painting we present today, Landscape with Cows. By sending her overseas work to exhibitions in Canada, she played an important role in further extending the movement’s reach there.

In 1915 McNicoll’s career was suddenly cut short when she developed complications from diabetes and died, in Swanage, England, at the age of 35.

P.S. If you love beautiful landscapes and would like to learn more about women artists, please check our 50 Women Artists Postcards Set in the DailyArt Shop.  :)

P.P.S. Here is an interesting story of Mary Cassatt, a female American Impressionist.  <3