Succulent subtleties

In 2011, the AGO was generously gifted a group of works from the Elizabeth and Tony Comper Collection, highlighting modern women artists in Canada. Among them was socially engaged painter Marian Dale Scott (1906 – 1993), whose oil painting Jade Plant from around 1934 is both a unique depiction of a common household succulent and a subtle commentary on gender roles. For the AGO’s latest instalment of Close Looking, Fredrik S. Eaton Curator of Canadian Art Georgiana Uhlyarik explored this important work in greater detail via Facebook Live.   

Born in 1906 in Montreal, Marian Dale (later Marian Dale Scott) took to painting as a child, with her first works being exhibited at the young age of 12. She attended École des beaux-arts de Montréal before studying abroad at the Slade School of Art in London. It was upon her return to Canada in 1926 that she re-calibrated her approach to painting and joined a collective of Montreal-based artists making work focused on social change—which coincided with her 1928 marriage to professor and left-wing intellectual Frank Scott. Until this point, her practice consisted of mostly landscapes and cityscapes, but she now sought to make a foray into work she deemed more meaningful. For Dale Scott, this meant incorporating more abstraction and emotion into what she painted. 

During her Close Looking discussion, Uhlyarik notes that Jade Plant is stylistically inspired by one of Marian Dale Scott’s favourite artists, Georgia O’Keeffe. Like O’Keeffe, Scott’s close-up depiction presents a common plant as something extraordinary, highlighting its propeller-like leaf structures in vibrant indigo. Where this work differs from that of O’Keeffe is in its inclusion of the plant pot. According to Uhlyarik, this detail is of great significance compositionally as well as symbolically, representing Marian Dale Scott’s social commentary on the role of women in society. The portrayal of this glorious plant bound and restricted by a pot, as Uhlyarik states, “speaks to constriction, to being limited, to being detached from the natural environment.” Undoubtedly, this reflects Dale Scott’s critique of the ongoing social limitations restricting  women’s lives during the era. 

Check out Close Looking: Marian Dale Scott’s Jade Plant below.

 Additionally, take a look at this in-gallery talk given by Georgiana Uhlyarik in 2018 to mark International Women’s Day. In it, she shares insight about the pivotal friendship of Marian Dale Scott and fellow Canadian modernist Pegi Nicol MacLeod.