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Re-mapping modernity : the sites and sights of Helen McNicoll (1879-1915)

Canadian artist Helen McNicoll (1879-1915) has long been neglected in art historical scholarship. Although well-known and well-regarded during her lifetime, her work has since been marginalized as feminine and dismissed as old-fashioned. Through the lens of a modernist art historical tradition that has privileged the urban and masculine above all else, McNicoll's Impressionist depictions of sunlit beaches, open fields, and rural women at work may indeed seem quaintly nostalgic. In this thesis, I argue that these images can and should be seen as both representations of modernity and assertions of feminist thought. McNicoll travelled throughout England and Europe, and across the Atlantic Ocean in search of artistic subject matter; viewed within the context of tourism---which has been theorized as a fundamentally modern activity---her images appear modern in ways that have not traditionally been recognized.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.83172
Date January 2005
CreatorsBurton, Samantha
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Arts (Department of Art History and Communication Studies.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 002506453, proquestno: AAIMR22588, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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