Sister Osithe

The Immaculate Conception (click for larger image)

n 1903, Osithe returned to the Mother House in Lachine for further artistic training. While there, she completed copies of Millet's " Reapers", Hoffman's "Rich Young Man" and a number of original works 'from life', including "Building the Card House". Perhaps the best known of her works, "The Immaculate Conception" was also painted in Quebec.

"The Immaculate Conception" was a favourite of many of the pupils, for they remember the large painting hanging in the Sister's Parlour at the main entrance of the school. Sister Osithe based this image of Mary on the work of the Baroque artist Bartolomez Esteban Murillo. Murillo lived in Spain from 1617-1682, where he painted many scenes of the peaceful, joyous aspects of spiritual life. This theme certainly would have appealed to the community at St. Ann's, and Sister Osithe chose the Immaculate Conception as her model. This scene shows the Virgin Mary, supported on a crescent moon. She is surrounded by putti, the little cherub-like children floating about her in the mist. It is said that, if you look closely at the faces of the putti, you can see Osithe and some of her students.

The Rich Young Man (click to view images)

Her kindness was remembered. She was given a 68-piece set of Satsuma ware from Japan, sent by the father of one of her pupils in appreciation. Sister Osithe's modesty regarding her own painting was also noted. Through her years in Victoria, she created many works of art, both from her own designs and by copying the style and subject matter of other artists. Works such as the crayon portrait of 1908, entitled "Portrait of Bishop Christie" were put on display at Annual Exhibitions held for the works of the Academy studio. She attracted publicity, and the ladies of Victoria Society began to attend classes in the visual arts under Osithe's direction, bringing in helpful income from these aspiring artists and extending the positive influence of the St. Ann's art programme beyond the school.

The Parcival Series (click to view images)

The final project for the artistic Sister involved the "Parcival Paintings", a series of 2 x 1 ½ foot paintings which interpret Wolfrem Von Eachenback's epic poetry. Louis II comanded the artist Edmund von Woerndle to execute an adaptation of the Holy Grail story of Parcival, written during the Medieval period between the years 1170 and 1220, through a series of murals for his palace in Munich, Germany. The series of 18 original sketches were sent to Osithe in the form of photographic slides by Father Bernard Hubbard, of the Jesuits of Fordham University, in New York, who had acquired them from Europe. She reproduced nine images from the series in the form of paintings, late in her life.

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