Mary Pratt: A Love Affair with Vision – review

One of my quandaries as a novice artist is to discover my style, or put another way, to recognize and develop my voice. After about five years of working at this art thing, I’m still feeling my way.

Loose is in. I’ve tried painting loose, but my loose paintings never succeed. Impressionism and expressionism retain their popularity. Then there’s abstract art, which continues to mystify me.

Instead, I find myself drawn to realism—even photorealism. That’s probably why I’m so enjoying the book about Canadian realist painter Mary Pratt: A Love Affair with Vision by Anne Koval.

The book is rich with Pratt’s homey paintings like “Dining Room with a Red Rug,” and “Supper Table.” Her food paintings, like “Baked Apples on Tinfoil, “Grilse on Glass,” “Eggs in an Egg Crate,” “Fruit Cake, Very Dark, Very Rich” and many others, are not only relatable but visually exciting.

Pratt’s preoccupation with how light infused a scene with life made it difficult for her to paint from life—as light changes moment by moment. Encouraged by her husband  and fellow artist Christopher Pratt, she began to use photographs to establish her compositions, even employing projection to get her drawings accurate and precise.

But her paintings are far more than copies of photos. Her use of light and colour elevates homely object to almost iconic status, as in “Romancing the Casserole”—a painting depicting a casserole, above eye level and backlit, in an open microwave oven. “Baking Bread” is another beauty of golden loaves, glowing from the dark bowels of a speckled enamel oven.

I’m reading the book slowly, gathering quotes as I do. Here are a few I’ve marked.

On Pratt’s use of photography:

“For Pratt, photography was always a means to an end. She never considered her slides as aesthetic objects in themselves, rather they functioned as visual aids in her painterly toolbox. Pratt writes, ‘My personal slides are like a visual journal.’”

Mary Pratt, by Anne Koval, Goose Lane Editions, © 2023, p. 99.

On the symbolism in Pratt’s work:

Mary, in a letter to her mother: “’To anybody brought up in the Judeo-Christian tradition—an apple is never just an apple—a loaf is never just a loaf and fishes are never just fishes. One could go on indefinitely.’ ”

Critic Nancy Tousley:

“’Bathed in light the fishes and the foodstuffs, undeniably Christian symbols, are presented as sacramental offerings on the altars of kitchen counters and dinner tables.’”

– Ibid p. 125.

On the significance of Pratt’s work to herself:

“…Pratt explains, her paintings are imbued with personal meaning: ‘The reality comes first, and the symbol comes after. I see these things, and suddenly them become symbolic of life.’”

Ibid, p. 141.

Read more about Mary Pratt and download the PDF book Mary Pratt by Ray Cronin from the Art Canada Institute – Mary Pratt page.