Vieux Québec Personalités

These typical Vieux Québec sketches exhibit so many of the most familiar tableaux of Montréal with their winter, snow, ice, sleighs and horses, street scenes, and religious venues. However, only a few of the sketches translated to an oil-smeared brush on canvas. It is tantalising to think what the sketches would be like as finished oils but this makes Kathleen’s works more exceptional. They reveal her independent spirit, highlight her endless curiosity and exemplify the magic of art and drawing and the stories and memories that influenced Kathleen and her world.

These little lads are eagerly awaiting their ready-roasted peanuts. Kathleen is, again, featuring this cheeky parrot atop the cart, overseeing the proceedings.

This is an unusual Kathleen Morris theme but this little wheeled vehicle and its youthful driver caught her fancy and shows how historical events influenced her. In September 1941, crowds gathered on Van Horne Avenue to cheer on the contestants of a soap box derby sponsored by the Kinsmen’s Club of Montréal. The event was to draw attention to and promote craftsmanship in boys from 9 to 15 years old. World War II was in full swing and some of the entries soapboxed anti-Hitler posters on the chassis!

Kathleen often left faces, on both humans and animals, blank. So, this is quite charming – the ladies’ afternoon card game. Matronly, for sure. Representative of an era – absolutely. These bold pencil strokes show the hair styles, clothing and recreational preferences of Québec’s bourgeois society.

Kathleen is a master at scribbling a few pencil or charcoal strokes that invoke time, place, movement and theme so perfectly. Again, one can only marvel at her talent but not without regret for what might have been a finished masterpiece in oil.

These adorable children don’t really need facial expressions to show that they are enjoying themselves in the snow. No more room on this toboggan.

Kathleen quickly took out her crayons to dash off this snow-scene/toboggan sketch on the back of an envelope.

This could be out of a 1920’s or 1930’s fashion catalogue. The shoes, long skirts, hats for both men and women, cloches, head bands of the time. This is untypical of Kathleen but shows how she saw society and its customs and dress codes of the time. What are they looking at, one must wonder.

Maman, père et, toujours, les enfants. En arrière, peut-être une grande maman ou une bonne?

These mademoiselles are bundled up against the cold Québec winter with fur collars, warm hats and, popular at the time, muffs to keep hands warm. Feet? Not so much.

The scantest touch of pencil or charcoal to paper conveys fashion trends of the day. Never forgetting the little dog trotting along.

Kathleen pencils a study in little lads sporting caps in various poses. Again, she seems to have just grabbed an old piece of folded writing paper to sketch something on a whim.

Kathleen experimented with her portraiture for a Québec habitant, deciding on different colours, then changing her mind.