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From Africville: The Paintings of Edith MacDonald-Brown (1886-1954)Curated by David Woods
Organized by MSVU Art Gallery
February 15 – April 26, 2025
Opening reception & curator talk: February 15 at 1:00 pm
This exhibition celebrates the artistic legacy of under-recognized African Nova Scotian painter Edith MacDonald-Brown. Curated by David Woods, the exhibition features nine of thirteen known oil paintings that highlight MacDonald-Brown’s mature talent at such a young age.
For many years, Woods has dedicated significant efforts to uncovering MacDonald-Brown’s oeuvre and has collaborated with her descendants and MSVU Art Gallery to ensure the preservation of her art. The conservation efforts, completed in the Fall of 2024, have restored these works for future generations.
This exhibition not only honours MacDonald-Brown’s talent but also sheds light on the broader narrative of African Nova Scotian artistry. Explore her remarkable work and the rich cultural heritage she represents in Canadian art history.
Please join us on February 15th at 1:00 – 3:00 pm to celebrate the life work of Edith MacDonald-Brown. David Woods will give an informal presentation about Edith MacDonald-Brown’s work following opening remarks at 1:45pm. Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome to attend! Please contact [email protected] by February 5th with any access needs, requests, or inquiries.
About the artist:
Edith Hester MacDonald-Brown (1886-1954) is the granddaughter of William Brown Sr., one of the original deed holders for lands in Africville, Nova Scotia. Born in Africville, she moved to Montreal in 1898, where she took painting lessons, according to members of her family. She showed an exceptional talent at a young age. Her subjects were mainly English pastorals and floral still lives, painted from reproductions of paintings. In 1914 she married William Henry Brown, after relocating back to the Brown family homestead in. Despite her talent she did not pursue a career as an artist or exhibit publicly, sharing her works only with family. The few surviving paintings by MacDonald count among the earliest examples of fine art produced by an African Canadian woman in Canada.
About the curator:
David Woods is a largely self-taught multidisciplinary artist and arts organization leader from Dartmouth, NS. He was the organizer of Nova Scotia’s first Black History Month (1984) and the founding organizer of several arts and cultural organizations, including the Cultural Awareness Youth Group of Nova Scotia (1984) and the Black Artists Network of Nova Scotia (1992). Woods has curated pioneering exhibitions of African Nova Scotian art, such as “In This Place: Black Art in Nova Scotia” (1998) and “The Secret Codes: African Nova Scotian Quilts” (2012, currently touring nationally). Recent research focuses on African American art pioneer Edward Mitchell Bannister (1828–1901), who is greatly revered in the United States but largely unheralded in Canada—the country of his birth. Woods is also writing a history of Black art in Nova Scotia from 1888 to the present.
MSVU Art Gallery gratefully acknowledges the support of Halifax Regional Municipality and Arts Nova Scotia.
@msvu_halifax
Image: Highland Cattle, Edith MacDonald-Brown, 1902. Collection of the Brown-Howe family, Africville, NS.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Mount Saint Vincent University, 166 Bedford Highway, 1st floor Seton Academic Building, Halifax, NS, Canada, Nova Scotia B3M 2J6
