The encyclopedia on all things Maud, Our Maud: The Life, Art and Legacy of Maud Lewis tells the story of Maud’s life, and traces her impact on Nova Scotia. The book looks at how Maud Lewis has become a role model for children with juvenile arthritis, her posthumous role in the creation of Atlantic Canada’s largest art museum, and how her story has become known around the world, culminating in the hit feature film Maudie starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke. 

Written by Ray Cronin for the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia 
160 pg
Full Colour
9 x 11.25 in
Published by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
ISBN 978-1-55457-798-9

 Maud Lewis (1903-1970) had no formal training in the visual arts. Like many folk artists, she painted for the joy of adding colour, light and fun to a poverty stricken rural existence. She spent her entire life in and around Digby and Yarmouth counties. In her early thirties, Maud Dowley married Everett Lewis, a poor fish peddler. They began selling Maud’s paintings on their trips throughout the countryside. As Maud’s health deteriorated, she rarely ventured outside her tiny home.

From her small world came a proliferation of paintings depicting a charming rural life full of flowers, cats, sleigh rides, deer, and teams of curly-lashed oxen. Maud painted: boards, rocks, scallop shells and household objects with whatever paints came her way, often marine paints from local fishing boats.

Perhaps Maud’s greatest work was her home. She painted almost every surface of the interior including the stove, windows and the door. Maud Lewis’ house rapidly deteriorated following the death of her husband in 1979. In 1984 the Province of Nova Scotia acquired the home for the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. Since its restoration, the house has been on permanent public display in the Scotiabank Maud Lewis Gallery in the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.

The Maud Lewis Collection line of products allows the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia to support initiatives at the Gallery that promote and inform the legacy of Maud Lewis.