• born Budapest, Hungary in 1925
• immigrated to Canada in 1944
• Diploma of Fine Arts, University of Manitoba School of Art, Winnipeg, Manitoba (1954-57)

click on thumbnails at left to view larger images

Through drawing and sculpture installation, Eva Stubbs incorporates the human figure into much of her work as she expresses what has been described as "her intense concern for humanity" (Shirley Madill, 1987). This concern has ranged from feminist to technological issues, to an interest in the forms of ancient civilizations and their place in history. Silent Voices (1982-83) is a series of crude female forms, features carved on their faces and bodies with a series of scratches and marks that cause them to resemble ancient or primitive carving and sculpting. Yet although "the look of the works suggested artifacts from ancient civilizations . . . their message was contemporary" (Robert McKaskell, 1993). As their positions are often constricted in some way, Marion Yeo has interpreted them as reflections of the societal restrictions that have historically limited women’s freedom of expression (1984). Memories for the Future (1987) consists of ten monumental seated figures and five large carved and painted clay columns. Painting her sculptural surfaces with oxides and colourants, and incising them with lines Stubbs's surface treatment underscores the affinity her sculpture shares with archaeological findings. "Despite their initial impact of solidity and strength, the pillars, with their fragmentary nature, speak clearly of human fragility. A mysterious, spiritual energy seems to radiate from within them, transfixing the attentive viewer . . . . The ten crouching figures bear a strong relationship to the images on the pillars . . . . In their order and balance, they reflect a world of wisdom and mediation, of non-prejudice, both racial and sexual" (Shirley Madill, 1987). The crucial role that women have historically played in society is again explored by Stubbs in Monument (1993) a sculpture of a female form, from which another smaller being emanates. In an interview with Robert McKaskell in April, 1993, Stubbs described this work as "a strong female carrying the burden of society on her back." Also in 1993, Stubbs held an exhibition in Hungary with Caroline Dukes, entitled Pillars and Arches: The Art of Caroline Dukes and Eva Stubbs, exhibiting Memories for the Future and subsequently donating it to the Vasarely Museum in Budapest. Multiples (1995) is a sculptural installation consisting of phallic and womb-like forms and reflects the artist's exploration of contemporary issues regarding male-female relations, and the implications of scientific developments for fertility and reproduction and its impact on the family unit. Using pieces of piano wire, an old paddle and a sock darner, Stubbs initially fashioned these sculptures out of clay and later cast them into plaster. "Other readings of the work . . . might position Stubbs’s use of archaic forms within a larger feminist project of artistic recovery and cultural re-evaluation" (Cliff Eyland, 1996). In 1984 Stubbs was commissioned to do a series of bronze panels for Winnipeg’s Law Courts building. In addition to her sculptural practice, Stubbs has taught art at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and Lakehead University and was a founding member of SITE, a gallery cooperative. She was also a mentor in the advisory program for Manitoba Artists for Women’s Art.

Sculpture Society of Canada

Baker, Marilyn. "Eva Stubbs at the Fleet Gallery." Art Magazine 60 (September-October 1982): 42-43.

Cameron, Ann, and Daryl Kuhl. Art in Winnipeg, 1955 to 1959. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Gallery 1.1.1., University of Manitoba, 1982.

"Eva Stubbs. University of Winnipeg Gallery. Review." Border Crossings 15, no. 1 (Winter 1996): 55-56.

Eyland, Cliff. "feat of clay." Border Crossings 15, no.1 (1996): 55-56.

Lang, Andrea. "A renaissance Eva Stubbs at Fleet." Artwest 7, no. 2 (February 1982): 20-23.

Lovatt, Tom. "Eva Stubbs. Memories for the Future, Winnipeg Art Gallery. Review." Border Crossings 7, no. 2 (Spring 1988): 29-30.

Madill, Shirley. Eva Stubbs: Memories for the Future. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1987.

---, Robert McKaskell, and Stephen Michael Clark. Eva Stubbs/Caroling Dukes. Budapest, Hungary: Vasarely Museum, 1993.

Visions and Views, Manitoba Women in the Visual Arts. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Manitoba Department of Education, 1982.

Yeo, Marian. "Four Manitoba Artists." Woman Artists News 9, no. 3 (Spring 1984): 6.