Under the Shadow of the Tent is an image of female partnership and friendship. Both figures are focused on artistic activities: the seated woman is wearing a painting smock as she looks in her box of painting materials, while the other is browsing through a sketchbook. The women, absorbed in their work, do not acknowledge each other or the viewer. The painting’s relatively large size supports the idea that women’s artistic activity is important.
Helen McNicoll’s Subversive Femininity
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Helen McNicoll, Under the Shadow of the Tent, 1914
Oil on canvas, 83.5 x 101.2 cm, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts