A visual journey into a largely forgotten but rich vein in Canada's cultural legacy.

Independent Spirit celebrates women artists in Canada from the eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Drawing on rarely seen paintings in private collections, as well as exquisite pieces from public galleries, A.K. Prakash offers a unique and inspired selection of work by women artists who changed the face of Canadian art.

In Part I, seventy-seven works of art by thirty-six artists are presented in detail, each with a stunning full-page colour image and an incisive analysis and appreciation of the work. In Part II, in-depth biographies feature additional full-colour images and details of the artwork to illustrate each artist's approach and distinctive technique.

The first definitive book on the subject, Independent Spirit includes an annotated index of 564 early Canadian women artists and a comprehensive bibliography, with selected resources for each of the thirty-six artists profiled in Parts I and II. Invaluable to collectors and scholars alike, this unrivalled resource will be essential reading for anyone interested in Canadian art.

Artists featured in Independent Spirit:

• Emily Carr
• Florence Carlyle
• Paraskeva Clark
• Emily Coonan
• Rody Kenny Courtice
• Kathleen Daly
• Mary Bell Eastlake
• Marcelle Ferron
• Mary Riter Hamilton
• Prudence Heward
• Frances Anne Hopkins
• Yvonne McKague Housser
• Simone Hudon-Beaulac
• Frances Jones
• Maud Lewis
• Mabel Lockerby
• Marion Long
• Laura Muntz Lyall
• Pegi Nicol MacLeod
• Margaret Campbell MacPherson
• Mabel May
• Florence McGillivray
• Helen McNicoll
• Kathleen Moir Morris
• Lilias Torrance Newton
• Sophie Pemberton
• Christiane Pflug
• Sarah Robertson
• Anne Savage
• Charlotte Schreiber
• Ethel Seath
• Regina Seiden
• Henrietta Shore
• Jori Smith
• Elizabeth Wyn Wood
• Florence Wyle

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A.K Prakash

A.,. Prakash's profile page

An extraordinary piece of work, rigorously researched, beautifully annotated, and a splendid contribution to a rich and largely unexplored part of Canada's visual heritage. Years of intensive and hard looking at the art shine throughout this volume. Independent Spirit teems with information and ideas. It will be of great use to scholars and the general public alike.

Shirley Thomson, former Director, National Gallery

A pioneering book, Independent Spirit will provide inspiration to historians, who by and large, have neglected the work of Canadian women artists. Wildenstein in Paris and New York has always actively promoted the work of women artists. A.K. Prakash is to be commended for taking this important initiative.

Guy Wildenstein, The Wildenstein Institute, Paris

Recommended for public and academic libraries with large art collections and libraries with women's studies collections.

Library Journal Xpress

The only Canadian artists most non-Canadian art lovers can name are those in the all-male Group of Seven and the intrepid Emily Carr. So it is enlightening and gratifying to be introduced to the three dozen Canadian women artists (primarily painters) showcased in this large and beautifully produced book, from Charlotte Schreinber 91834-1922) to Marcelle Ferron (1924-2001). After addressing all the pertinent issues regarding the subjects, struggles, and triumphs of these "trailblazers" and "masters of their craft," Prakash presents a grand gallery of luscious plates, each accompanied by a crisp description, and a lively and informative series of concise illustrated lives. From Frances Carlyle's 1908 painting of a barefoot, flower-crowned woman lifting her arms like wings and stepping from a dark woods into sunshine to Christian Pflug's exacting dreamlike images from the 1960s, these strongly composed, warm-blooded portraits (primarily of children and women), vital landscapes, and dramatic still lifes are all quite striking in their robust variations on and glorious departures from Victorian and modern European styles. A fresh visual feast and an invaluable biographical treasury.

Booklist

A remarkable achievement ... This book fills a yawning gap in our historical knowledge and brings many overlooked and deserving artists back onto the national stage. Prakash's scholarship, judgment, and unerring eye reveal how accomplished the women artists in our history were and are, and how vitally important their stories and achievements are to us today.

David Silcox, President, Sotheby's Canada; author

This impressive volume presents paintings and biographies of 36 Canadian women artists and an index of 564 early Canadian women artists, in an oversized format filled with full-page color plates of excellent quality.

Book News Inc.

This large, splendidly produced volume is an excellent reference on Canadian women artists from the mid-18th century.... What Prakash modestly offers as an exploratory start is both a comprehensive reference work and a delightful read. Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.

Choice

This is a massive undertaking all boiling down to an extremely useful research tool, not to mention a beautiful book on a subject with all too little information to date.... The reproductions are beautiful and abundant and many are from private collections, thus not well known to those of us with an existing interest in the subject. This is a book that would be a most welcome addition to the library of any art enthusiast and is a compelling enticement to become one.

Atlantic Books Today (Halifax NS)

Gorgeous colour plates in a spacious layout make this a deluxe volume rarely equaled in the field of Canadian art books. The author has chosen to reproduce small oil paintings for the most part, giving each richly detailed photo a full page, to encourage a lingering look.

Victoria Times Colonist

What a wonderful book...This is both a useful reference and an entertaining book to browse and read through. While some of the artists...may be familiar, many more are likely to be unknown by most people. This volume may change that.... Artists, collectors and those who enjoy paintings and sculpture will treasure this book.

Escarpment Views

A celebration of Canada's greatest female artists is a wonderful thing, and for that alone, this book is a necessity.... Intended as a journey, this book delivers in spades.

Quill & Quire

The book provides a valuable service by reproducing paintings that largely remain in private hands.

Montreal Gazette

A book devoted exclusively to female Canadian artists is long overdue.... The book is sumptuously illustrated... It's large, even for a coffee-table book, which serves the artwork well, and it introduces readers to the female pioneers of Canadian art, going back to the 18th century.... For the general reader, it's a good place to start reclaiming the female Canadian artists who have been unjustly neglected far too long.

Guelph Mercury

A much-needed tome, Independent Spirit: Early Canadian Women Artists, [is] a coffee-table book/reference text hybrid designed to appeal to the generally art-interested as well as to collectors and academics. Authored by Toronto art consultant A. K. Prakash, Independent Spirit's mainstream draw is its lovely, large-scale reproductions of works from 36 famous (or should-be-famous) artists, while the meaty bits for specialists lie in its back-matter biographies and its appendix of Canuck-lady creatives. ... Until the resources turn up to co-ordinate an equivalent exhibition, this book likely contains the best one-shot visual survey of these artists that we've got. ... As generally aimed as this book might be, it offers much to surprise even fully fledged arterati.... Certain details, perhaps overlooked elsewhere, also generate interest.

The Globe and Mail

This is an absolutely stunning book, reproduced with dozens of glorious paintings. But it is also a very valuable book, chronicling the live and works of three dozen Canadian women painters, few of whom are displayed in the National Gallery.

Winnipeg Free Press

Independent Spirit: Early Canadian Women Artists is the first interpretive study of the subject ... The author is to be admired for his passion, dedication, and readiness to break new ground, in this, as in so many other realms of Canadian art.

David Thomson, Chairman, Thomson Reuters Corporati