TORONTO, ONTARIO, October 30, 2005. In many ways the witty and sophisticated Lilias Torrance Newton was ahead of her time. She married on condition that she could spend three months of the year studying in Paris, she divorced when divorce was frowned upon, raised a child on her own, and supported herself as a portrait painter in a traditionally male profession.
Lilias Torrance Newton is but one of the ten Montreal women, contemporaries of the Group of Seven, who are the focus of The Women Of Beaver Hall: Canadian Modernist Painters. Whether it was Lilias Torrance Newton, the reclusive Emily Coonan, who suddenly withdrew from public at the height of her career, or Anne Savage, who decided against marrying A.Y. Jackson, their private lives often attracted more attention than their paintings.
Like the Group of Seven, the Beaver Hall women were Modernists struggling against the academic taste of the time, but unlike the Group of Seven who became Canada's most recognized artists, the women were ignored and their paintings were left to gather dust in the vaults of the galleries.
The Women of Beaver Hall: Canadian Modernist Painters brings to light the work of a group who, despite social mores and their often prestigious backgrounds, forged a place for women in the male-dominated art world. Creating an identifiable Canadian art did not much concern them. They were more interested in new techniques and in shifting emphasis from landscape imagery to the personal aspects of expression. Many embraced the Quebec Francophone tradition that landscapes include signs of habitation: the picture could be devoid of man himself, but not of his tools, buildings or other imprints of civilization. For the most part the paintings are small in scale, depict tranquil country scenes, and combine both modernist and traditional styles.
The over sixty-five colour plates gleaned from galleries and private collections make this hard-cover book a work of art in itself and a must-have for every library. As a reference, it is arranged alphabetically by artist, with biographies, exhibition lists, endnotes, and a bibliography. Its readable style is directed to the student and scholar alike.
With an increasing number of retrospective exhibitions, soaring prices at auction, and the upcoming release of The Women of Beaver Hall, Canadians will be able to discover one of their country's hidden treasures.
Lilias Torrance Newton is but one of the ten Montreal women, contemporaries of the Group of Seven, who are the focus of The Women Of Beaver Hall: Canadian Modernist Painters. Whether it was Lilias Torrance Newton, the reclusive Emily Coonan, who suddenly withdrew from public at the height of her career, or Anne Savage, who decided against marrying A.Y. Jackson, their private lives often attracted more attention than their paintings.
Like the Group of Seven, the Beaver Hall women were Modernists struggling against the academic taste of the time, but unlike the Group of Seven who became Canada's most recognized artists, the women were ignored and their paintings were left to gather dust in the vaults of the galleries.
The Women of Beaver Hall: Canadian Modernist Painters brings to light the work of a group who, despite social mores and their often prestigious backgrounds, forged a place for women in the male-dominated art world. Creating an identifiable Canadian art did not much concern them. They were more interested in new techniques and in shifting emphasis from landscape imagery to the personal aspects of expression. Many embraced the Quebec Francophone tradition that landscapes include signs of habitation: the picture could be devoid of man himself, but not of his tools, buildings or other imprints of civilization. For the most part the paintings are small in scale, depict tranquil country scenes, and combine both modernist and traditional styles.
The over sixty-five colour plates gleaned from galleries and private collections make this hard-cover book a work of art in itself and a must-have for every library. As a reference, it is arranged alphabetically by artist, with biographies, exhibition lists, endnotes, and a bibliography. Its readable style is directed to the student and scholar alike.
With an increasing number of retrospective exhibitions, soaring prices at auction, and the upcoming release of The Women of Beaver Hall, Canadians will be able to discover one of their country's hidden treasures.
