Almost nine months ago, three framed Christmas cards by famed Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis, valued at approximately $10,000 CAD each, were stolen and are still missing today.
Where the Theft Happened
The three framed Christmas cards were stolen from a home on the 1900 block of Cambridge Street in the south end of Halifax, Nova Scotia sometime between November 21 and 24, 2024.
How the Theft Happened
Almost nothing is known about the actual theft. It was reported to the Halifax police on November 25, 2024. No suspects were ever identified, but local police believe that the theft was committed by someone known to the owners of the house.
This was not the first reported theft of Maud Lewis’ work in recent years. Sometime between September 2020 and June 2021, two paintings–worth more than $20,000 CAD each–were stolen from a summer home, Seagull Cottage, in Smiths Cove, Nova Scotia. Those two paintings, of two oxen in a field of tulips in spring and in a snow-covered field in winter, had been purchased for $5 each in the early 1950’s by Van Davis Odell from Maud Lewis at her home in Marshaltown, Nova Scotia. They had then hung in a bedroom in Odell’s Smiths Cove cottage until they were stolen. The theft was first noticed by a woman from Montreal who rented the cottage for a number of summers.
Below are two paintings similar to the Lewis works stolen from Seagull Cottage.
How to Identify these Missing Pieces of History
The stolen Christmas cards are each approximately 7 by 5 inches and are matted and framed. The scenes on the cards are of pedestrians and a sleigh in winter near a passing train (matted in yellow), pedestrians walking toward a church (matted in red), and a sleigh moving away from a church near a hillside (matted in blue). According to Canadian art dealer Chad Brown, the stolen works were not the typical size for Christmas cards painted by Maud Lewis.
Why these Missing Pieces of History are Important
Maud Dowley Lewis was born on March 7, 1903 in South Ohio, Yarmouth County in Nova Scotia, Canada. At the time of her birth, she had several congenital disorders, including sloping shoulders, a curved spine and a very recessed chin. Based on photographs of Maud and descriptions of her worsening condition over her lifetime, it is now believed that she suffered from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, a very painful degenerative autoimmune disorder.
Based on photographs of Maud and descriptions of her worsening condition over her lifetime, it is now believed that she suffered from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, a very painful degenerative autoimmune disorder.
Her father was a skilled blacksmith and harness maker and her mother, who had artistic abilities, taught Maud to draw and paint. In 1914, the family moved to Yarmouth, an active Nova Scotia port town. While living there with her parents, Maud, with her mother, began making and selling Christmas cards in the 1920’s. Both of Maud’s parents died in the mid-1930’s, leaving Maud with nothing. She then moved to Digby, Nova Scotia to live with her aunt, Ida German.
Maud did not stay with her aunt for long. In the fall of 1937, Everett Lewis, a 44-year-old bachelor who sold fish door-to-door, put up an advertisement for a woman to “live-in or keep house” at his home in Marshalltown, just outside Digby. Maud answered his ad, but with a proposal of her own – she would be his wife, not be his housekeeper. They married in January 1938 and Maud spent the rest of her life in Marshalltown, Digby County with Everett Lewis in his one room house. Much of her art depicts this area.
After marrying Everett, Maud’s arthritis got progressively worse, making it difficult for her to do any household work. Instead, she began to paint again, at first cards and then paintings. Maud would accompany Everett on his door-to-door sales, but now he sold fish and Maud’s cards, for which she charged 5 cents apiece.
In 1939, Everett took a job as a night watchman. As he was no longer selling Maud’s work door-to-door, Maud painted a sign, put it on their house, and began selling her brightly colored paintings of outdoor scenes and animals for several dollars apiece, as well as selling her cards and painted scallop shells.
She began accepting some commissions, including a commission in the early 1940’s for a set of painted wooden shutters for an American family’s summer home in the area. That commission earned her 70 cents per shutter. She also began painting the surfaces of her home, earning it the moniker of “The Painted House.”
Maud Lewis herself did little to promote her work other than her sign at her home, but the interest of others began to generate public attention to her paintings. In early 1964, she attracted the notice of Cora Greenaway, a Halifax freelance journalist. Ms. Greenaway interviewed Maud for the CBC Radio program “Trans-Canada Matinee.”
In addition, in July 1965, writer Murray Barnard wrote a story about Maud’s work for the Toronto “Star Weekly,” with a headline of “The Little Old Lady Who Paints Pretty Pictures.” In his story, Bernard wrote:
“Among the brightest and most joyful pictures coming out of picturesque Nova Scotia at present are those done by a little old lady named Maude Lewis who admirers call Canada’s Grandma Moses.”
The CNC television program “Telescope” also ran a story on Maud Lewis, interviewing Maud and Everett and a neighbor, Kathleen MacNeil, who was serving as Maud’s secretary.
This publicity heightened the already considerable interest in Maud Lewis’ work throughout the rest of her life. Even United States President Richard Nixon commissioned two paintings from her. For that commission, Maud required that he pay in advance, as she did not know who he was. Maud Lewis died in 1970 at the age of 67.
After her death, interest in Maud Lewis and her work remained high. In 2009, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (“AGNS”), in conjunction with Greg Thompson Productions, produced “A Happy Heart: The Maud Lewis Story,” a play written and produced by Greg Thompson. In 2016, “Maudie,” a feature film about Maud Lewis by Sherry White, starring Sally Hawkins as Maud and Ethan Hawke as Everett, made its Canadian debut at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2017, AGNS published a book by Ray Cronin, “Our Maud: The Life, Art and Legacy of Maud Lewis.“
Her work today commands a high price. In 2023, three Maud Lewis paintings were sold for a total of $159,000 CAD at an auction in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada.
What to Do if You Know Where These Missing Pieces of History Are
If you recognize any of the three Christmas cards or the two oxen paintings by Maud Lewis, have any information about the cards or paintings, or know their whereabouts, please call us at 1-202-240-2355 or send us an email at contact@arguscpc.com.
This is our 20th “Still Missing” article! Read the rest here: https://arguscpc.com/category/still-missing/