The Honourable Renaude Lapointe, P.C.

On their way to the Red Chamber, where the Senate’s debates are conducted, senators proceed through the foyer. The high walls there are lined with a collection of commissioned portraits of former Speakers. This visual legacy is a permanent record honouring those who have occupied the most prominent role in the Senate. Connected by this tradition and the conventions of portraiture, these paintings also reveal elements of each artist and their subject. Viewing the series, I was drawn to this portrait of the Honourable Louise Marguerite Renaude Lapointe, P.C. (1912-2002) by Barbara Tarnowska (1911-1984). The unusual light, carefully handled details and vivid touches of colour inspired me to learn more about these two women.

Renaude Lapointe was one of the first female Canadian professional journalists. She came up in the field during the Second World War. Over a 39-year career, she was a staff writer for Le Soleil, La Presse and Le Nouveau Journal. A well-recognized, award-winning journalist at a time when such distinctions were rare for women, she was also an author and a correspondent for Time and Life magazines, as well as the international service of Radio-Canada. After working with the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, she was appointed to the Senate in 1971. In 1974 she became the first French-Canadian woman to be named Speaker of the Senate, a position she held until 1979. Known by her colleagues for being extremely dedicated and hardworking, she retired from the Senate in 1987 and was awarded the Order of Canada in 1989.

Barbara Tarnowska was originally from Poland and left during the Second World War. She lived in several countries in Europe from 1946 to 1950 and began taking painting classes. In 1950, she emigrated with her family to Uruguay, where she painted diplomats and members of their families through connections made in Europe. She continued painting portraits as she and her family moved over the years to the United States, France and Canada. According to the artist’s family, in 1981, she had the opportunity to paint Queen Elizabeth II, which she considered a highlight of her career. Tarnowska worked in person, often spending several days with her subjects. Using a palette knife rather than a brush, she captured people with exceptional sensitivity, producing richly textured works infused with colour and emotion.

When this portrait was painted in 1978, Lapointe had been a senator for seven years and the Speaker for four. Tarnowska was nearly 30 years into her artistic career. I wonder what conversations the two shared as Lapointe sat for her portrait. They were women of the same generation; each had overcome significant barriers to succeed in professions dominated by men. Both had travelled extensively and met leaders and dignitaries. And both were known to be modest despite their significant accomplishments. Quiet trailblazers, their connection is conveyed here in Lapointe’s expressive gaze, a luminescent atmosphere and precisely rendered features contrasting a vibrant, abstracted background. Working hard for their many achievements, they in turn created space for generations of women to follow.

Garnet Muething is the Government of Yukon’s Art Curator in Whitehorse, Yukon.