Artistic depictions of Orillia’s most famous summer resident are nothing new to the Leacock Museum.
That's not the case when it comes to Stephen Leacock’s wife, Beatrix Hamilton.
The museum recently received a gift of two paintings – one of Leacock and one of Hamilton.
“They’re beautiful paintings,” said Tom Rose, the museum’s collections and program supervisor. “They’re not unsophisticated. She knew what she was doing.”
Rose was referring to Meida Mohun, an Orillia artist who died in 2011 in her 89th year.
The museum was approached a few weeks ago by Denise Taylor, who had come into possession of Mohun’s painting of Leacock. That set Rose on a fact-finding mission.
After getting in touch with Mohun’s daughter, Mary Blevins, he learned Mohun had immigrated to Canada from Estonia in the early 20th century and took up painting in her 40s. She studied under local artist Marta Brestovansky; the museum also has one of Brestovansky’s paintings in its collection.
Mohun was “not what you’d call a known artist, but she was very prolific,” Rose said.
Her painting of Leacock is based on a well-known photo of the late humorist – depictions of which are not uncommon to the museum. The painting of Hamilton is a different story.
“Of the two, that’s the one I’m more excited about,” Rose said.
The museum has a number of drawings of Hamilton, but this is the first painting. Blevins and her husband, Doug, decided to donate that painting to the museum as well. The painting of Leacock was completed in 1975, while the Hamilton piece was finished a year earlier.
Acquiring those two pieces of local art fit well with the museum's vision.
“The way I think the museum will thrive is by focusing on storytelling. I view all art as different forms of storytelling,” Rose said. “If we don’t maintain and keep things like Meida’s artwork, they could go completely unnoticed and I think that would be a shame. It would be a story that is never told.”
The paintings are not yet on public display.
Also, the museum has so many objects that have been donated, it is not accepting any more donations of artifacts for the rest of the year.
