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Proquest Dissertations Finding the Sublime: Assessing Elizabeth Simcoe's Fires as an Art Practice Bathsheba Susannah Wesley A Thesis in The Department of Art History Presented in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts (Art History) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada September 2008 © Bathsheba Susannah Wesley, 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-45353-7 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-45353-7 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. Canada ABSTRACT Finding the Sublime: Elizabeth Simcoe's Fires as an Art Practice. Bathsheba Susannah Wesley This thesis traces Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe's (1766-1850) changing relationship to landscape during her stay in Canada (1791-1796), as she transformed from a genteel watercolour painter of tamed British landscapes to practicing less conventional means of creativity, which resulted most spectacularly in her developing an aesthetic fondness for setting forest fires. This thesis proposes that above and beyond Simcoe's painting, her art practice can also encompass this alternative means of aesthetic expression in relation to landscape. Simcoe's practice, as such, conceptually parallels ideas running through late eighteenth-century European culture, specifically philosophy and art practice, concerned with the state of picturesque and sublime landscapes. Mirroring this discourse, Simcoe's performative behaviour and creative practice illustrate a subtle but marked shift from a removed picturesque appreciation of landscape, to an active creation of a sublime experience within the landscape, as she grapples with the colonial space in which she temporarily resides. When this transition in Simcoe's performativity and practice is analysed through contemporary theory on postcolonial landscape, female subjectivity and performativity, and the feminist sublime, an intriguing narrative begins to emerge of a woman facing, and then working within and for, the breakdown of conventional cultural systems through visual metaphor. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would first like to thank my thesis supervisor, Dr. Cynthia Hammond, for her superb insight and critical reading of my thesis. Her encouragement and enthusiasm for this project are very much appreciated. Thanks are also extended to my readers, Dr. Kristina Huneault and Dr. Johanne Sloan for their interest, guidance and assistance in this process. As well I would like to thank the Department of Art History at Concordia University for providing me with the academic support and preparation to embark on this thesis. Lastly, sincere thanks go out to my family and friends who have supported me through this process, particularly to Mark Lanctot who has offered essential critical input and guidance, and provided me with much love and support. IV DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this thesis to my parents who fostered and encouraged my love of history and of art. I particularly dedicate this to my mother who, in 1982, bought a copy of Marion Fowler's The Embroidered Tent, and introduced my childish six-year-old imagination to the story of Elizabeth Simcoe and her fires. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Methodology and Literature Review Simcoe's Subjective Performativity and the Picturesque 22 3.1 An Eighteenth-Century Grounding in Subjective Performativity and the Picturesque. 22 3.2 Seeing Picturesque 32 3.3 Performative Strategies 44 4 Simcoe's Fires and the Sublime 58 4.1 A Cultural Context for Simcoe's Sublime: Theory and Practice 59 4.2 Simcoe's Practice of the Sublime 65 4.3 Fire as a Space of Destruction and Production 75 5 Conclusion 84 Illustrations 89 Appendix: The Chronology of Simcoe's Reference to Fire 96 Bibliography 98 VI CHAPTER ONE; Introduction This thesis traces the perceptive journey of Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe (1766- 1850) during her stay in Canada (1791-1796) as she moved from an English understanding of a fabricated picturesque landscape into a complex relationship with the vast, seemingly uncontrollable, daunting and "othered" wilderness of Canada. During her cultural and geographical transition from England to Canada, Simcoe transformed from a genteel watercolour painter of tamed British landscapes to practicing less conventional means of creativity, which resulted most spectacularly in her developing fondness for forest fires. Simcoe set these fires for her own pleasure and that of her friends. Through these actions, Elizabeth Simcoe can be read as an exemplar of colonial excess and frivolity. I propose however, that she is a woman whose life and creative practice altered significantly during her time in Canada. I purport that above and beyond her painting, Simcoe's art practice can also encompass her less conventional means of aesthetic expression, her forest fires, which at the time were not necessarily seen as art, but today can, productively if anachronistically be seen as such. Conceptually, Simcoe's paintings and other means of visual expression parallel ideas running through late eighteenth-century European culture, specifically philosophy and art practice, concerned with the state of picturesque and sublime landscapes. Mirroring this discourse, Simcoe's performative behaviour and creative practice illustrate a subtle but marked shift from a removed picturesque appreciation of landscape, to an active creation of a sublime experience within the landscape, as she grapples with the colonial space in which she temporarily resides. When this transition in Simcoe's performativity and practice is analysed through contemporary theory on postcolonial landscape, female subjectivity and 1 performativity, and the "feminist sublime," an intriguing narrative begins to emerge of a woman facing, and then working within and for, the breakdown of conventional cultural systems through visual metaphor. Elizabeth Simcoe (nee Gwillim) was raised in a wealthy, politically conservative environment in England. Simcoe's mother, Elizabeth Spinckes died in childbirth and her father Thomas Gwillim Jr., who was a Lieutenant-Colonel and fought under General Wolfe at the Plains of Abraham, died just before her birth of unknown causes. Simcoe was raised, therefore, by her grandmother and aunts, as an only child in a household that valued education and conventional artistic accomplishments. In 1782, at the age of sixteen, Simcoe married Colonel John Graves Simcoe (1752-1806) and together they had eleven children.1 In 1791 John Graves Simcoe was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. The twenty-five year old Elizabeth Simcoe and their two youngest children Sophia and Frances, age two and four months respectively, accompanied him to Canada. Once in Canada the Simcoes travelled constantly, often by boat and canoe, guided by a combination of soldiers, voyageurs and First Nations guides. Initially they lodged in Quebec City, but quickly moved to what is now Southern Ontario, where John Graves Simcoe took up his post as Lieutenant Governor. While in Upper Canada, much of their time was spent around the shore of Lake Ontario, working in particular to develop the settlement of Toronto.2 Elizabeth Simcoe took note of her observations in her Canadian journals, of which she wrote three versions. One version was a rough draft, another was for the caregiver of her children in England, Mrs Hunt, and the last version 1 Six of the children were born before the Simcoes travelled to Canada. Mary Beacock Fryer, Elizabeth Posthuma Simcoe 1762-1850: A Biography (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1989) 258-59. "The Toronto Carrying Place" was renamed York by John Graves Simcoe in 1793 and returned to the original name of Toronto in 1834. See Fryer, 74, 89,216. 2 was for her oldest and dearest friend, the published botanist and geologist, Mary Anne Burges and includes supplementary detailed
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