Possible work by important N.B. painter uncovered in Saint Andrews attic

If you haven't heard of Edward Bannister, you're not alone, but you probably should know his work.

The famed Black artist has paintings in institutions as prestigious as the Smithsonian the Whitney Museum and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

The prolific, award-winning artist was born in 1828 in Saint Andrews, yet there's little mention of him in the popular history of the province.

That's likely because he made his name as a painter while living and working in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

But it turns out there may be one of his early works in an attic in his hometown.

Former area MP Karen Ludwig lives in a house that was once owned by merchant Harris Hatch, who took Bannister in after his parents died when he was young.

While renovating the home, Ludwig found what may be a landscape painted on a chimney.

"When my husband was removing all the old wall coverings ... there was one that was green," said Ludwig. 

"You can imagine this is a house that was built in the 1830s, there was no green brick back then … [when] I was standing back from it, I said, 'that looks like a landscape painting.'"

Forgotten history

It was this discovery that drew Nova Scotia art curator David Woods to the house to determine if the painting is by Bannister.

Woods, who's planning an exhibition of Bannister's work, says he first heard about the artist while trying to experience his own Black culture as a child.

He said local radio stations in Nova Scotia didn't play Black music, so he would stay up late to listen to radio coming from Boston.

It was on one of these late night listening sessions he first heard about Bannister.

"One of the things that the radio station did ... they called it Black moments, where they would highlight a hero or an event of significance to African-Americans," said Woods. 

"One of the nights that I stayed up, they suddenly announced the name Edward Mitchell Bannister, and he was the first person of African descent to win a major art prize in North America, the Centennial Medal in 1876 at the Philadelphia Exposition."

The station mistakenly said Bannister was born in Nova Scotia, which piqued Woods's interest.

But he was shocked to find the Maritime art world didn't really know about Bannister.

"None of them had heard of this dude," said Woods. 

"Which I found astounding for a number of reasons. Firstly, because he was a known artist, but also because he was from the Maritimes."

Woods said that even extended to the painter's hometown.

"I called his hometown Saint Andrews, and I called the museum, they had never heard of him," said Woods.

Ludwig said it will take a couple of months to determine if the painting is by Bannister, and even longer to determine how to proceed if it is, but she said this should get people more interested in the artist.

"Even if it's not his painting, it's still a story that should be shared and people should be knowing that that's part of our history in Canada," said Ludwig.

Woods said he hopes to organize an exhibition of Bannister's work in Sackville in 2023.

"This is a Canadian celebration in a way, and we'd like to share it with others as a momentous occasion of elevating somebody who had been sort of ignored by history," said Woods.

In 2019, one of Edward Bannister's landscapes was featured on the PBS program Antiques Roadshow. It was appraised at $45,000 US. 

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.