Audrey McNaughton
(1917 - 2010)

Born in Toronto, Ontario, she studied under Canadian figure and portrait painter, John Russell. She took further study in Los Angeles and in London, England. Later, she married an editor-engineer and settled for a time in Toronto, although she made trips across Canada in search for subjects. In 1957, she visited the Grenfell Medical Missions of Labrador, to sketch the inhabitants of the settlements. The supply ship on which she travelled could not carry passengers, so she signed on as a member of the ship’s galley, washing and drying dishes. She painted Eskimos, Indians and personnel of the mission hospitals, medical outposts and scenes of the land itself. Transportation difficulties prevented her from working with oil paints, so she made her sketches in pastels.

On her return to Toronto, she transferred her sketches into larger paintings. She then toured Grenfell Society Missions in various cities where her paintings were displayed. In 1958, a showing of her work took place under the auspices of Grenfell Society in the Banking Committee and Commerce Room of the Senate, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa. The following year, she completed a portrait of former Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent for the House of Commons. She had by then moved to Montreal, where for several years she lived and worked. Later she settled in Cobourg, Ontario, where she had a standard bungalow built and altered to meet the needs of her studio room. She worked for UNICEF in North Africa, Spain, Europe, Syria and Lebanon. Apart from her UNICEF duties, she was able to paint the portrait of King Hussein of Jordan and over two hundred portraits of personalities during her travels. She was known as well for her outstanding portraits of horses, dogs, and other domestic animals. She also held a pilot’s licence.

Literature Source:
"A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume 4: Little - Myles", compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1978