New York Street Scene

Look closely. How many figures in pink can you count in this colourful work by Pegi Nicol MacLeod? Capturing a dynamic street scene below her East 88th Street apartment in New York City, MacLeod actually shows the same figure sweeping from seven different vantage points! A well-known figure in early Canadian modernism, MacLeod moved to New York in the late 1930s, where she captured scenes of vibrant life around her. This watercolour painting is typical of MacLeod’s “kaleidoscope vision,” an experimental technique she developed, using an expressive style to convey repetitive views.