I'm an American and therefore knew nothing about Canadian art before I visited the Art Gallery of Ontario while at a conference in Toronto in the 1990's. The major display at that time focused on what would then have been considered edgy performance art by (I believe) a non-Canadian, which consisted mainly of a pile of dirt on the floor of the gallery. There were also lots of paintings by The Six--uninspired in their unanimousness--not on display but stored in drawers for museum patrons to peruse. But in a neglected corner of the museum I discovered a 1938 painting by the St. John painter Miller Brittain, "Two Waitresses on a Streetcar Crossing the Reversing Falls." I stood there transfixed for maybe half an hour. It's the only painting I've ever seen that made me cry.

I happened to be at the University of New Brunswick for another conference some years later and searched out whatever was available by Brittain in Fredericksburg. The University art department had a list of works available--for me, most notably a pair of murals in the UNB gymnasium, ignored by the students as they headed to PE class. Other works were "on loan" in the offices of various faculty members. One of the professors graciously let me into his office to see a late Brittain print (or drawing) on his wall that illuminated the artist's mental struggles--a woman with a flower instead of a head. It was as frightening as the painting in Toronto was poignant.

Since I was first in Toronto, there have been a number of articles and a book about the artist, but from my point of view, he is still a prophet without honor in his own country. I just scrolled through the hundreds of works in @CanadianPaintings, and found a plethora of awe-inspiring paintings, but alas (unless I missed it) nothing by MB. I hope my humble post here as an outsider can do a little to increase appreciation by Canadians and everyone else of the genius of this shining, tragic figure.