Berthe Des Clayes

Berthe Des Clayes was born in Scotland in 1877, and studied art in England and Paris, before moving to Canada in 1912, settling in Montreal. The artist lived and painted in Montreal, but also travelled back and forth to Europe, living on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean for long periods of time. Berthe Des Clayes was mainly a landscape painter, who also did some portraits. She worked in oils, watercolours and pastels in impressionistic style, and painted Canadian and European scenes. Among her Canadian scenes were pastel landscapes, paintings of Quebec farmhouses and ice cutters in the Laurentians, and fishing boats in Nova Scotia. Some of Berthe Des Clayes winter scenes, showing loggers pulling timber out of the bush and people travelling by sleighs, are reminiscent of works by Frederick Simpson Coburn. Her work is also held by the National Art Gallery of Canada, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the University of British Columbia, and the National Archives of Canada. She was an associate member of the Royal Canadian Academy. Berthe Des Clayes died in England in 1968 at the age of 91.