Church at Yuquot Village

The Indian Church (renamed Church at Yuquot Village in 2018 by the Art Gallery of Ontario) is a 1929 painting by Canadian artist Emily Carr. Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris bought the painting to showcase it in his dining room, and called it Carr's best work. In 1930, the work was shown in the Fifth Annual Exhibition of Canadian Art organised by the National Gallery of Canada. In 1938, the painting was chosen for an exhibition titled A Century of Canadian Art, at the Tate Gallery. The exhibition was described by Vincent Massey as "a most representative showing of Canadian painting and sculpture, including all schools and all periods." It is considered a "transitional" painting because it reflects the transition of Carr's artistic work from purely depicting Native Art to shifting her focus toward the land. In her autobiography, Carr wrote that she "felt the subject deeply". She painted it at Friendly Cove, near a lighthouse. When Carr saw her painting in Harris's home, she exclaimed: "The house must have bewitched this thing! It was better than I had thought." However she could not look at it, because she could not accept praise from other people, and felt embarrassed when others complimented her about her work. The painting is one of Carr's most reproduced works, and was eventually donated to the Art Gallery of Ontario by Charles Band. In the spring of 1929, Carr travelled by train through Vancouver Island to Port Alberni from where she went by steamer to Nootka Island. There she sketched, among other subjects, a white church that was in the area. When she returned to Victoria, she started painting crosses around the church, creating the impression of a graveyard. In the painting, she omitted adding any other buildings near the church, as was the case with the actual church, to emphasise the isolation of the church within its green environment. She also added an element of danger in the form of wavy dark green undergrowth erupting in front of the church. Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris was enthusiastic about Carr's painting. He communicated this opinion to her by telling her that when he sent her painting to an American art exhibition, he thought that it was the "best thing there" and that he thought that she could not surpass it.Carr had difficulty receiving praise from others because for most of her life she was criticised and praise was not something she was familiar with. When Harris praised her drawing to such a great extent, she had trouble accepting his enthusiastic words about it; she was offended by Harris's remark, which she perceived as a comment implying that her talent was limited. She commented that "she was sick of that old church. I do not want to hear any more about it!" Harris understood the effect of his remark on Carr and did not comment further about the painting to her, although he still sent her encouraging messages because he was convinced that the Indian Church provided strong evidence that Carr had transcended the limits of simply illustrating Aboriginal Canadian Art. Recalling the incident with Harris about the painting, Carr wrote in her autobiography: "Just once was I angry with him. That was over a canvas, painted by myself, entitled The Indian Church".