Paraskeva Clark, Parachute Riggers, 1947 Oil on canvas, 101.7 x 81.4 cm, Beaverbrook Collection of War Art, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa
In the 1940s, H.O. McCurry, the director of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, commissioned Clark to paint the contribution of the Women’s Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) to the war effort. Parachute Riggers is one of the three works she eventually submitted.
McCurry had instructed her to find a dramatic subject; instead, she gave the subject of women preparing parachutes a dramatic composition.
This Spotlight is excerpted from Paraskeva Clark: Life & Work by Christine Boyanoski.
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