Described as a ‘Canadian Icon’, the painter Emily Carr (1871-1945) was a writer and a leading ‘expressionist’, whose works often had overtones of ‘impressionism’ and ‘fauvism’. She pioneered artistic representations of Native Canadian life, primarily through landscape art. Carr brought her art to life through bold and visionary exhibits, with an emphasis on green and blue. Many times, a strong and marked influence of the renowned ‘Group of Seven’ could be identified in her paintings. Emily’s choicest work considered is “Big Raven”, created in 1931.
Unlike his favorite medium of watercolors used in his early work, the “Big Raven” painting belongs to the genre of his oil on canvas works. Measuring 87.3 cm X 114.4 cm, this painting is currently in the collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia. In line with Carr’s signature style, the piece is a reflective work with deeper nuances. As the name suggests, the painting’s protagonist is a bird, highlighted in larger-than-life proportions. The theme centers on the being’s rapidly approaching end and the fact that he has accepted his fate with grace. The imposing figure of the bird is depicted looking away from the viewer to the left side of the painting and standing awaiting its disappearance. The fallen leaves at the feet of the “Great Raven” are outlined in a very powerful way, giving them the appearance of a wave. These waves seem to threaten to engulf the majestic creature.
Through “Big Raven”, Carr has tried to represent the culmination of life back to the ‘whole’ from which it was originally created, ie Mother Nature. Indeed, the brush strokes and graduated shading used for the foliage in green and sometimes yellow, together with a stark and relatively darker sky, add a mystical depth to an already philosophical setting. Carr had divulged that her idea behind the work was to depict the shadowy state of a lonely crow, whose mate long died, waiting their turn amid decay and rot. Despite the focus on the role of a higher power in the fate of living beings, Carr has not allowed helplessness to creep into his portrayal of the leading man. The piece is a remake and supposedly an ‘improved’ version of his watercolor work ‘Cumshewa’, painted some 20 years earlier. With its sheer gravity and enveloping darkness, “Big Raven” came to be recognized as a deep-themed masterpiece that continues to intrigue its viewers just as much as it did at the time of its debut.