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New York Street Scene

Pegi Nicol MacLeod

BIRTH YEAR 1904
BIRTH PLACE Listowel, Ontario
DEATH YEAR 1949
DEATH PLACE New York, U.S.A.

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.

MEDIUM Watercolour and graphite on paper
DATE 1945
DIMENSIONS 45.1cm x 59.7cm
ACCESSION NUMBER 2016.12.03
CREDIT LINE Collection of the Ottawa Art Gallery: the Laura Brandon Collection of Canadian Women’s Art, Ottawa Art Gallery, gift of Laura Brandon, 2016
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
An expressive and colourful composition depicting figures in movement. Tones of muted green dominate the painting. A figure, wearing a white skirt and a contrasting dark pink shirt (clothing), is depicted in different positions throughout the painting. Artist referred to their experimental technique as the ''kaleidoscope vision'' where they expressed different views/movement through expressive brushstrokes.

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