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Annie E. Duff (5 February 1873 - 7 May 1955)

Annie E. Duff (February 5, 1873 – May 7, 1955) was a Canadian artist inspired by rural life during the turn of the 20th century in Ontario. Duff was the first female painter in Canada to paint maternity, as portrayed in Woman by the Sea, a work which is now housed in the National Art Gallery of Canada.

Contents [hide] • 1 Biography • 2 Work • 3 Recognition • 4 References • 5 Further Reading

[edit] Biography

Born in Carleton Place, Ontario in 1871, Annie E. Duff was the second-youngest of nine children born to Scottish parents William and Elizabeth A. Duff.[1] Her father, William Duff, immigrated to Canada from Bankfoot, Scotland in 1843 at the age of 10. Duff’s early life was spent on the Duff rural homestead, named Oreno Villa, located in near Carleton Place. Her early education took place in a one room school house in Beckwith Township in Lanark Ontario, S.S. #14, and later she attended the Prince of Wales School in Carleton Place. During Annie’s early life at the homestead in the rural countryside of Ontario she closely studied birds, animals, and the surrounding flora. She was known for hiding in greenery with food in her hands in order to attract the birds. This allowed her to study their coloration, shapes, and sizes in intricate detail. Duff began painting birds on the windows of the homestead and continued to paint the flora and fauna of rural Ontario in her later artistic work. In 1891, Duff enrolled in Coligny College, a private school for girls, in order to study art in formal classes. She studied art there from 1891-1893. [2]


In 1893 Duff painted Temptation, Sin and it’s Antidote which she had hoped to showcase at the World’s Columbian Exhibition. However, the work did not arrive in time. The painting was re-named Adam and Eve by the National Gallery of Canada upon its purchase in 1976.

  • Temptation, Sin, and it’s Antidote (Adam and Eve), 1893, oil on canvas. 7’ x 11’, National Gallery of Canada
    Temptation, Sin, and it’s Antidote (Adam and Eve), 1893, oil on canvas. 7’ x 11’, National Gallery of Canada

In 1895, Duff painted Woman by the Sea, which was the first painting of maternity in Canada painted by a Canadian female artist, during a time in which female artists in Canada were not yet acknowledged for their contributions. The National Gallery of Canada purchased the work in 1976 in order to showcase Duff’s contribution to the art of Canada.

By 1900, Duff took an interest in photography and began capturing the beauty of everyday life in rural Ontario at the turn of the 20th century.

From 1903-1906, Duff traveled to the United States. She visited various temporary exhibits throughout the Eastern United States, and met with Robert Holmes, a Canadian artist, in New York City. Her travels influenced her work, and in a letter that she wrote in 1903 she wrote “I have learned more here, than I would in a lifetime at home”.

In 1955, at the age of 82, Duff died of natural causes. 

[edit] Work

Duff is known for her paintings that are held by the National Gallery of Canada. Her lifeworks depict rural life in Ontario and include scenic landscapes, hunting, camping, farming, recreation, flora, wildlife, and domesticated animals in paintings and photographs. As a pioneer Canadian artist, Duff was the first Canadian female to paint maternity in Woman by the Sea.


Boy in a Hayfield, Date Unknown, McNeely Private Collection (Destroyed in a Fire)


Girl on the Stairs with Kittens, Date Unknown, Helen Williamson Private Collection Most of Duff’s works remain in private collections and the majority of her paintings and photographs captured rural life in Ontario at the turn of the 20th century. She used charcoal for her sketches and her mature work was oil on canvas and oil on board.


Autumn Sports, 1902


Taking Milk to the Cheese Factory, Date Unknown [edit] Recognition In 1976, the National Gallery of Canada purchased Duff’s Temptation, Sin, and it’s Antidote (Adam and Eve) and Woman by the Sea to add to its Canadian collection. [edit] References • City of Ottawa Archives • National Gallery of Canada • National Archives of Canada [edit] Further Reading • Brown, Howard Morton (phone the library in Carelton Place), The Duffs of Bankfoot and Beckwith, Publisher? • Duff of Orena Villa, http://www.duffoforenavilla.com/ • Lockwood, Glenn J. (1991), Irish and Scottish Identities of Beckwith in a Canadian Community, University of Calgary: Calgary • Tippett, Maria (1992), By A Lady: Celebrating Three Centuries of Art by Canadian Women, Viking Press: Toronto

References

[edit]
[edit]
  • Brown, Howard Morton, The Duffs of Bankfoot and Beckwith
  • Duff of Orena Villa, [1]
  • Lockwood, Glenn J. (1991), Irish and Scottish Identities of Beckwith in a Canadian Community, University of Calgary: Calgary
  • Tippett, Maria (1992), By A Lady: Celebrating Three Centuries of Art by Canadian Women, Viking Press: Toronto


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