Prudence Heward

Efa Prudence Heward ( born July 2, 1896 in Montreal, † March 19, 1947 in Los Angeles ) was a Canadian painter.

Life

Efa Prudence Heward came from a wealthy family. It was considered a precocious and highly intelligent. In the early years she was taught at home, and at the age of fifteen years, she attended the prestigious girls' school Miss Porter 's School in Farmington. She showed an interest in art and her family encouraged her talent. After finishing school Heward studied at the Art Association of Montreal School.

During the First World War Heward lived in England, where her brothers served in the Canadian Army. They even made ​​service as a volunteer for the Red Cross. Upon her return to Canada she joined the Beaver Hall Group. In 1924, Heward presented for the first time their works in a collective exhibition at the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in Toronto from. Her first solo exhibition she had in the Scott Gallery in Montreal until 1932.

Between 1925 and 1926, Heward inhabited a room at Montparnasse district of Paris and studied art history at the private Académie Colarossi. While studying at the Académie she often visited the Café du Dôme, a well-known meeting place for artists in Montparnasse, where the American writer Morley Callaghan, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald wrong. With the painter and philanthropist Isabel McLaughlin (1903-2004) joined them soon a close friendship.

In 1929 Hewards career got a major boost when her picture Girl on a Hill won the first prize in the Governor General Willingdon competition and thereby got an exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada. In the following years her health deteriorated - she suffered from asthma since childhood - visibly. A car accident in 1939 worsened the whole essential and Prudence Heward died while seeking medical treatment in Los Angeles. Although Heward never reached a major celebrity, she was internationally known and regarded in art circles.