London, Ont., man's 1960s letters from Nova Scotia artist Maud Lewis up for auction

John Kinnear was moti‐ vated by a heartfelt desire to help when he sat down in his London, Ont., home to write a letter to Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis.

It was 1965 and Kinnear an artist himself - had just read a profile of Lewis in Star Weekly magazine, which was included in his weekend edi‐ tion of the London Free Press.

The story chronicled a tal‐ ented artist unmotivated by fame or fortune, living a hardscrabble existence in poverty and isolation in rural Marshalltown outside Digby, N.S., with her husband Everett. She painted colour‐ ful, cheerful rural scenes and pictures of animals. She also had debilitating rheumatoid arthritis and lived in a small one-room house with no run‐ ning water or electricity.

Kinnear and Lewis wrote a number of letters to each other. On Saturday, six that she sent to him from 1966 to 1967 will officially be auc‐ tioned by Miller & Miller Auc‐ tions Ltd., with an estimated sale price for the lot of be‐ tween $3,000 and $5,000. Bids can also be placed in ad‐ vance online.

"My father was very touched by that [Star Weekly] story and he liked the pic‐ tures of her work," said Kinn‐ ear's daughter Sheila, now 69 and an artist like her dad, who was a London police of‐ ficer and died in 2003.

A teenager at the time, Sheila remembers her father handing her the newspaper story to read. He was a kind, patient man and a Second World War veteran. He regu‐ larly had discussions with his daughter about art and put literature in front of her to read.

"I was his shadow," she said about her dad.

Their interest piqued by the story, they decided to send Lewis a letter along with some much-needed art sup‐ plies.

"My father always said it's never too later to help some‐ one," Sheila said, "because you may be the only one that does."

WATCH | CBC's 1965 Telescope biography profile of Maud Lewis:

Two weeks after sending the letter, Lewis sent one back.

And so began what would become regular correspon‐ dence.

Miller & Miller Auctions said John and Lewis wrote to each other for five years until she died of pneumonia in 1970. Her husband died in 1979.

"It's believed Maud Lewis had few correspondents dur‐ ing that time," the auction house says in a release.

Lewis would send John samples of her work and he would regularly ship her art supplies. In the handwritten letters, they talked about everything from art to the weather.

In one dated Feb. 3, 1967, she writes to him: "You'll be getting tired of hearing from me."

A painter who worked in both oil and watercolours, he also sent a special paint primer to Lewis. He was wor‐ ried her paintings wouldn't last because they were often done on wood, cardboard and whatever medium she had on hand.

At the time, Lewis was overwhelmed with her sud‐ den and newfound fame. Her paintings were selling for no more that $10 each. John fa‐ mously traded one of the paintings she sent to him for a grilled cheese sandwich at a downtown London lunch spot in the 1970s. That painting, called Black Truck, sold for $350,000 in 2022.

Notoriety after death

In recent years, renown has grown for Lewis's work. Her paintings were featured on a stamp series, and her house is now fully restored and on permanent display at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax.

Her story was the subject of a 2017 film, Maudie, star‐ ing Ethan Hawke and Sally Hawkins.

Sheila said what her fa‐ ther truly valued is the friendship and kind words the two shared in their let‐ ters.

She said he had asked her to open the red trunk where he kept the letters a few months before his death.

WATCH | Halifax art dealer says to be wary of forged art:

"We read all the letters and we reminisced about Maud and the days gone by, and his eyes welled up and mine did to," she said. "He al‐ ways had a high regard for her."

Sheila said her father had friendships and exchanged letters with other artists, in‐ cluding London's Greg Curnoe and Group of Seven painter A.Y. Jackson, and that he had survived being a pris‐ oner of war and had seen great suffering in Europe.

"He knew pain and hard‐ ship," she said. "He also val‐ ued kindness and believed in lending a hand to others less fortunate."