Edith Hester McDonald-Brown

A great artist, too often forgotten about in our history

Every Canadian knows about the Group of Seven, Tom Thomson and Emily Carr but how many have heard of Edith Hester McDonald-Brown?

The fact she is unknown to so many is a travesty because she may have been one of our most gifted artists.

Edith was born on Dec. 17, 1886 in Africville, Nova Scotia, a Black community next to Halifax. She grew up in a middle-class household and worked at the general store owned by her mother Jessica.

From a young age, she had an interest in art and her earliest surviving pieces date from when she was 12. While she absolutely painted many works, only four have survived to this day. All four paintings were painted between 1898 and 1906 when she was in her teens. Three are landscapes and one is still life. Her work has been described as beautifully polished with imperceptible brushstrokes.

A fifth work, painted in 1911 and titled Sweet Peas, was up for auction once and has since vanished.

It is tragedy that only four of her works survive but we have those thanks to her granddaughter Geraldine Parker. The four paintings were passed down to her, and she ensured they were preserved so that the work of her grandmother would survive long after her death.

The work of Edith was unknown in the Canadian art world until David Woods, the artistic director of the Black Artists Network of Nova Scotia, was doing a door-to-door study of artwork by Black Canadians and found the art.

He conducted this study to go against the belief that Nova Scotia lacked Black art. He quite simply went to random doors and talked to people to see what valuable pieces of art they had hanging in their home, or hidden away in their basement.

It was through this effort that we known of Edith today.

In 1998, her work was featured in Woods’ exhibit In This Place: The Black Art of Nova Scotia.

As for Edith, she died on her 68th birthday on Dec. 17, 1954.