A Maud Lewis painting to help the hungry
‘How could I make a significant difference in this troubled world?’
Cat with Yarn, Butterflies & Flowers by Maud Lewis, pictured on the wall in the above family photo supplied by consignor Beth Chipman, will be offered in Miller & Miller’s Post-War Folk Art auction slated for Feb. 12, 2026.
We never know where the smallest gesture of kindness might lead down the road.
Such is the case with a Maud Lewis painting bought from the impoverished artist almost 60 years ago. After more than 20 years in the U.S., it is now returning to Canada to be sold and the auction proceeds will be donated by the seller to help Connecticut’s needy, reflecting a family’s spirit of generosity that spans several generations and illustrates the point that small kindnesses can have a significant impact much later.
The painting in question is ‘Cat with Yarn, Butterflies & Flowers’, a serial image by one of Canada’s most prominent folk artists, the late Maud Lewis, meaning it’s a subject she painted over and over again, but only during the 1960s.
Consignor Beth Chipman, who lived in Canada for the first 25 years of her life, now calls Connecticut home. She inherited the painting from her late mother, who lived in Atlantic Canada and had bought the unframed piece directly from Maud outside her tiny Marshalltown, Nova Scotia home during the late 1960s. She paid $10, the going rate for a Maud Lewis at the time. The family has owned it ever since, fondly referring to it as “Fluffy”, reportedly the name of Maud’s own white and fluffy cat.
Her mother had trained in commercial art for two years and had developed “a good eye,” according to Beth, and she liked the artist’s work. But seeing Maud’s situation first hand - crippled and living in a house the size of a shed with no running water – was moving and touched her mother deeply. It stood to reason she’d gladly pay the $10 – the equivalent of about $100 in today’s economy.
“Mom loved the whimsical piece and wanted to support Maud’s artistic efforts,” says Beth, who’s now 82. “She already had a red velvet dime store frame of the proper size and hung the painting in the family room of their summer home outside Lunenburg. After I moved to the United States in 1968, I returned to Nova Scotia every year with my own family to visit Mum and Dad and enjoy the province. There were many card games at the table beneath Maud’s painting and many family celebrations, as well. My mother loved the whimsy of the painting and I treasure that part of my mother.”
That painting has now been consigned to Miller & Miller’s Post-War Folk Art auction, slated for Feb. 12, 2026, estimated to bring CA$20,000 to $25,000. Surviving photos from 1979 show it prominently displayed ‘in situ’ in the family home.
The painting was prominently displayed in the family room of the family’s summer home outside Lunenburg.
In the spirit of generosity, Beth plans to donate the proceeds in memory of her mother to help feed the hungry and support the homeless in Connecticut, inspired by her mother’s own kindness and a growing need in the United States.
“The fact that there are 42 million Americans on the SNAP program is appalling,” she says, referring to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, still commonly referred to as the food stamp program. “Here in the small state of Connecticut, there are 360,000 people in the program – that’s one in nine residents. It’s disgraceful and we can do better.” She says there are several non-profit organizations in her area which may receive funds from the sale of the painting.
As long as Beth can remember, her mother was both generous and compassionate. One of her early childhood memories dates back to the 1940s when her mother gave her a plate of food “to take out to a hobo sitting under the apple tree in the backyard. We lived close to the railways tracks and occasionally a hobo would visit looking for food. Mum was always happy to share what we had with those less fortunate.” In later years, her mother supported children through the Save the Children program. When she died in 2004, Beth and her siblings took over responsibility for the children their mother had been supporting until they were old enough to leave the program.
And that desire to help those less fortunate clearly lives on in the family.
The painting later displayed in Beth’s mother Margaret’s home.
“Recently, I’d been wondering how I could make a significant difference in this troubled world,” says Beth. “Then, one night I had an epiphany at two in the morning. I thought, ‘that’s it’ and then I couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night.”
With her mind made up, Beth wanted the painting to go back to Canada and she wanted to donate the proceeds, but the process of getting it there and selling it there seemed daunting until, she says, “Miller & Miller made it all very easy for me”.
Maud Lewis (1903-1970) lived in poverty most of her life, sharing the tiny home with her illiterate husband Everett, painting familiar scenes and the surrounding landscape. A 2017 movie about her life, called Maudie, staring Oscar-nominated actors Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke, helped to further generate interest in her life and work. In 2022, a world record was set for a Maud Lewis when the painting Black Truck - once traded for a few grilled cheese lunches – brought CA$350,000 at a Miller & Miller auction.
Maud Lewis at work in her tiny painted house. Source.
Miller & Miller Auctions set the world record for the sale of a Maud Lewis work at auction, when Black Truck sold for CA$350,000 in 2022.
Looking ahead to the February auction, Beth concedes “I could do other things with the money, but this just feels right. The original $10 that Mum spent has been turned into much more. It reminds me of the tale of the loaves and fish.” (A reference to the biblical story of Jesus miraculously feeding a crowd of 5,000 people with just a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish.)
“Miracles do happen,” says Beth.
They sure do, especially when a family’s spirit of generosity prevails.
By Diane Sewell
Diane Sewell has been a writer for more than 25 years, producing feature stories for some of the country’s top newspapers and consumer magazines, as well as client newsletters and commissioned books.
SALE INFORMATION:
Post-War Folk Art
February 12, 2026. 9am EST
A Miller & Miller Online Webcast Auction
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