Mary and
Christopher met at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick
where they both studied art in the 1950s. They soon got married
and moved to Newfoundland where Mary quickly found her life
wrapped up in Christopher's career and raising their four
children. Christopher was a sensation from the start.
Mary set up an easel in her kitchen
and continued her own painting. Artist Alex
Colville talks about the transformation in Mary's style
in her first professional work, Supper Table, a style drastically
different from her husband's brooding realism. Christopher
sticks to cool controlled colour while Mary paints hyper-realistic,
bright domestic scenes.
With both artists working, the couple
hired Donna Meaney, a local teenager, to keep house.
She also posed nude for Christopher. After Mary painted
nudes of Donna from slides, which Christopher provided, people
concluded that Donna was Christopher's mistress. Donna
Meaney talks about her relationship with the couple.
The Pratts talk about how the rumours hurt their relationship.
Viewers also hear from family friends,
author David Silcox and Sandra and Richard Gwynn. Daughter
Barbara Pratt Wangersky talks about growing up in this unorthodox
household. The couple is seen at work in their studios
and in private moments with their children and grandchildren.
Original Air Date - February 5, 1997
Links
Mary
Pratt: Women Artists in Canada
Christopher
Pratt: Drawing from Memory
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