Press Release
New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada, April 10, 2024 — In 1965, The Star Weekly magazine and CBC-TV both shone a spotlight on the little-known, self-taught Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis (1901-1970). Her world suddenly changed.
Now, Ms. Lewis’s letters handwritten to a friend in London, Ontario will come up for bid at Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd., this coming Saturday, April 13th, beginning promptly at 10 am Eastern time. The auction will be online-only.
Details of Maud Lewis’s secluded and impoverished life in Marshalltown – where she and her husband Everett shared a tiny one-room house with no electricity or running water – became public knowledge. She complained about receiving more than 300 letters after all the publicity and evidently had no plans to answer them.
When the White House wrote to secure two paintings, her response was concise: she would send the paintings after receiving payment. Her work was suddenly in great demand, but she seemed impervious to the fame.
While it’s believed Maud Lewis had few correspondents during that time, there is one man she confided in. She wrote to him, and he wrote her back. He also sent her packages of badly-needed art supplies. His name was John H. Kinnear, of London, Ontario.
Reflecting on her father’s relationship with Maud Lewis, Sheila Kinnear offered the words her father repeated many times throughout his life: “It is never too late to help someone. You may be the only one that does.”
To learn more, please visit www.millerandmillerauctions.com.
