Kathleen Morris was one of the pioneering women artists who were part of the Beaver Hall Group in Montreal founded in 1920. One of her important subjects was the religious and social rituals of Quebec, and in her Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City streetscapes she often depicted churches, cathedrals and seminaries. Morris’s family was from Montreal’s Protestant elite, and her mother, a defender of women’s rights, staunchly supported her pursuit of an artistic life. Although Morris had a physical impairment, she vigorously pursued painting outdoors in winter, traveling by sleigh to her painting destinations to sketch on the spot.

In this atmospheric winter sketch, Morris’s simplified forms and bold brushwork expertly capture the mass of the building. Its imposing presence is crowned by the bell tower and cross, which pull the eye to the sky, a reminder of the ethereal purpose of its inhabitants. In this fresh and vibrant sketch, Morris warms the scene with the inclusion of people passing to and fro, and enlivens the earthy tones of the building’s surface with bright strokes of orange, green, blue and mauve.