Celebrating Sybil Atteck -- Trinidad's Mother of Visual Arts

Despite being the Trinidadian and Tobagonian 'Mother of Visual Arts,' Sybil Atteck is not a household name. Keith Atteck, the artists nephew, is on a mission to change that.

Keith Atteck with Girl in Costume (1949) Photo supplied by Keith Atteck

“Some things we understand, others we don’t, but we live with both.” -- Sybil Atteck

The Art Gallery of Burlington (AGB) is hosting a retrospective of the life’s work of Trinidadian artist Sybil Atteck (1911-1975). It is the largest collection of Atteck’s artworks to be publicly assembled and presented in Canada and it is definitely a must-see!

The exhibition offers a rare glimpse into Atteck’s diverse body of work and includes artistic techniques ranging from realism to abstract-impressionism in mediums as varied as oil pastels, inks, water colours, oils, acrylics, clay and bronze.

The show includes archival material spanning the 1930s to the 1970s offering a peek into her professional development, personal life, and celebratory moments.

Despite being the Trinidadian and Tobagonian ‘Mother of Visual Arts’ and having contributed works to over 76 exhibitions -- including 20 solo and 37 international shows -- Sybil is far from being a household name. Keith Atteck, the artist’s nephew, is on a mission to change that.

During the AGB opening night reception, Keith told Small Change, “Women tend to disappear into the fabric of society especially when you consider the challenges that marriage and family life bring.”

The third of 11 children, Sybil never married and Keith believes that was how she was able to pursue her love of creating art and rise to become one of the most influential Caribbean artists.

Over the past five years Keith has tracked down and catalogued over 700 pieces of Sybil’s work. And, every month brings another new discovery.

“An opus as prolific as Sybil’s took a special drive and tenacity. For a woman making work in the 1930s until her death in 1975, having a thriving international art career was unprecedented,” Suzanne Carte, AGB Senior Curator told Small Change via email.

The pieces included the AGB retrospective were either gifted to family members or left in Sybil’s estate when she died. Unfortunately, some of Sybil’s best pieces are now in private collections.

Many of those works arrived in their far-off locals thanks to Helen Atteck, Keith’s mother and Sybil’s sister-in-law. Helen managed the Art Gallery Sybil Atteck, originally located in the Port of Spain Hilton Hotel (1962 – 1966) and then at the Salvatori Building (1965 – 1974).

Keith shared the unusual provenance of his favourite painting, Girl in Costume (1949), which is reflective of many of the works he has been able to locate and authenticate.

In February 2018, while wandering the aisles of the Mennonite Central Committee Thrift Shop in Winnipeg, a woman noticed the painting of a young woman of Chinese Caribbean decent sitting on a wooden chair.

The rich shades of green, red and orange appealed to her as much as the subject so she bought the painting.

Upon closer inspection, the woman found Sybil’s signature and began researching the artist. That prompted her to contact the vice president of the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago – an organization that Sybil help found in 1943.

By the fall of 2020, Keith had heard about the painting and contacted the current owner. Eventually the woman gifted the painting to Keith.

Since then, Keith has verified the authenticity of the artwork. He also found a sticker on the back of the painting from an art gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan.

It is very likely that Girl in Costume was originally purchased at the Hilton art shop by a Canadian couple who took it home to Regina. After they passed away the couple’s children sold the painting through the Regina art gallery and the purchaser transported the work to Winnipeg where at some point it was given away to the Thrift Store.

Girl in Costume has since traveled to Germany where it was part of a collective exhibition called Beyond, the Sea Sings focusing on the Chinese diaspora at Times Art Centre, Berlin (2021).

The oil on board portrait was painted after Sybil accepted her first teaching position at St. Joseph’s Convent school in South Trinidad. The style reflects modernist influence and was representative of her interest in the Chinese diaspora and ethnic identification.

Another compelling piece is the 1955 watercolour portrait of Althea McNish (1924 – 2020). McNish, a member of the Trinidad Art Society, was mentored by Sybil. McNish went on to become renowned fabric designer and Caribbean artist in England.

A third portrait of particular note, is Sybil’s self-portrait painted in 1973, two years before she died from cancer. The artist is looking out and just slightly to the right of the person viewing them. The look is determined and not at all diminutive. The vibrant colours almost scream at the viewer, ‘look at me.’

An evolution is evident in Sybil’s portraiture. The Chinese women – mainly family members -- who figure prominently in Sybil paintings and drawings, avert their gaze in pre-independence renditions. After Trinidad reclaims its independence on August 31, 1962, the women exert their agency by almost meeting the viewer’s gaze.

She also capitalized on the societal changes of an independent Trinidad brilliantly capturing Diwali and Hosay celebrations that no longer took a back seat to Christian celebrations.

Born on February 3, 1911 on her grandfather’s cocoa estate in South Trinidad, Sybil’s family moved to Rio Ciaro in 1913 to be closer to her father’s cocoa estate.

Home schooled until 11 years-of-age, Sybil and her two older sisters were sent to Port of Spain to attend school. She graduated from high school in 1928.

In 1930, Sybil joined the Botanical Department in the Ministry of Agriculture working as a cartographer and scientific illustrator while continuing to draw and paint in her spare time.

It was during that time that Sybil became one of the first women members of the ‘Trinidad Field Naturalists Club creating amazingly life-like drawings and paintings of native botanicals.

She attended the Regent Street Polytechnic in London, England in 1935 before returning to work at the Ministry until 1940.

In 1941, Sybil studied at Escuela Belles Arts in Lima, Peru for a year.

In 1945 she attended the School of Fine Arts, Washington University in St. Louis Missouri graduating in 1948 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. It was during this time that Sybil studied with expressionist artist, Max Beckmann.

From 1948 until 1974, Sybil taught art at local Trinidadian schools.

From 1930 until 1971 Sybil exhibited her work around the world in both group and solo shows. Her public commissions include clay murals installed at the Trinidad Hilton Hotel and St. Theresa’s Roman Catholic Church, Malick. Her work can be found in the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago collection and she is featured on Trinidad and Tobago’s national stamps.

Although Sybil’s art evolved over the course of her career, her lens remained focused on the people, traditions and culture of Trinidad creating an anthropological study of her homeland.

Sybil refused to conform to the strict gender, ethnic and cultural restrictions imposed on female artists. She also broke free from the expectation that art should reflect one instantly identifiable style that would make her work much more saleable.

A musicality infuses Sybil’s work. It takes viewers from the pianissimo of the intimate drawings of members of her family to the fortissimo experienced viewing a local pier rendered in vibrant reds, purples and black.

“This exhibition unveils the mythos of an artist and the perseverance of an art sleuth. It is dually devoted to celebrating the life’s work of Sybil Atteck and to acknowledging the generosity of a family sharing their private collection to the public,” Carte said.

Keith plans to publish Sybil’s biography and to assemble a catalogue raisonné of her entire Oeuvre to establish the wealth of artistic talent that Sybil possessed while enshrining her place within public and academic discourse.

Sybil’s work is on display at the AGB until January 2, 2024.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyone with knowledge about the whereabouts of Sybil’s artwork can contact Keith at katteck@icloud.com.

Additional information regarding the Sybil Atteck Biography Project can be found here.