Frances Anne Hopkins

Book excerpt: Frances Anne Hopkins' paintings record fur-trade canoe travel and inspire modern wilderness adventurers. The art has broad appeal and enduring popularity, but the basic question underlying this biography is, how can it be that the finest artist of canoe travel is a mid-nineteenth-century woman? The many challenges she faced included gaining access to the Hudson's Bay Company territory known as Rupert's Land, blending the roles of wife, mother, and artist in an era without dependable birth control, finding exhibition opportunities and patrons, and establishing a career as a professional London artist. During her Canadian years, Canadian art diverged from British art, just as Rupert's Land was sold to the newly established Dominion of Canada.