Barbara McGivern (born August 15, 1945 – March 9, 2019), also known as The Gold Lady, was a Canadian artist from

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. One of her best known series is The Extraordinary Journey. The series was inspired by her trips through the deserts of

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, when she began incorporating the use of

gold leaf Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets (usually around 0.1 µm thick) by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-kara ...

into her work. Her style is most notable for presenting gold as a colour rather than as a precious metal. Her paintings are in private and corporate collections in Canada, Europe and the Middle East.

Early life and education

McGivern grew up in Toronto and for almost 40 years maintained a residence at the Manulife Centre which was a gathering place for members of the local arts community. In 1971 she went to Europe, for five years. Settling in London in the fall of 1974 she became a member of both

The Arts Club The Arts Club is a London private members' club founded in 1863 by, among others, Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, and Lord Leighton in Dover Street, Mayfair. It remains a meeting place for men and women involved in the creative arts either ...

and

Chelsea Arts Club The Chelsea Arts Club is a private members' club at 143 Old Church Street in Chelsea, London with a membership of over 3,800, including artists, sculptors, architects, writers, designers, actors, musicians, photographers, and filmmakers. The club ...

. Returning to Toronto in 1976 she worked with

Columbia Pictures Television Columbia Pictures Television, Inc. (abbreviated as CPT) was launched on May 6, 1974, by Columbia Pictures as an American television production and distribution studio. It is the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gem ...

until 1981 when they stopped producing TV programs. McGivern then started painting at her first art studio in downtown Toronto. Her work at that time was mostly naive and was inspired by the English artist

Beryl Cook Beryl Cook, OBE (10 September 192628 May 2008) was a British artist best known for her original and instantly recognisable paintings. Often comical, her works pictured people whom she encountered in everyday life, including people enjoying th ...

. Around that time she got accepted by the

Ontario College of Art and Design Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within do ...

she studied under Canadian artists such as

Graham Coughtry Graham Coughtry (June 6, 1931January 13, 1999), was a Canadian modernist figurative painter. Biography Coughtry was born in Saint-Lambert, Quebec, on June 8, 1931. He learned to paint at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts School, then attended ...

and

Ian Carr-Harris Ian Carr-Harris (born 1941) is a Canadian artist living in Toronto. In addition to exhibiting internationally, Carr-Harris is a professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Life Ian Carr-Harris was born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1 ...

. She graduated in 1988 in Experimental Arts at

OCAD Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within do ...

. In 1992 McGivern went to Russia where she saw works by the Impressionist artist

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

at the Hermitage and

Fernando Botero Fernando Botero Angulo (born 19 April 1932) is a Colombian figurative artist and sculptor, born in Medellín. His signature style, also known as "Boterismo", depicts people and figures in large, exaggerated volume, which can represent political ...

at the Pushkin, Moscow. During the same trip she saw the

Barnes Collection The Barnes Foundation is an art collection and educational institution promoting the appreciation of art and horticulture. Originally in Merion, the art collection moved in 2012 to a new building on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Penn ...

at the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

, Paris. She produced a series of paintings based on

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

works, with her own interpretation of The Barnes Collection, which was later shown at Musee Hotel Baudy in

Giverny Giverny () is a commune in the northern French department of Eure.Commune de Giverny (27285)< ...

. Throughout the 90's McGivern was represented by galleries in

Yorkville, Toronto Yorkville is a neighbourhood and former village in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is roughly bounded by Bloor Street to the south, Davenport Road to the north, Yonge Street to the east and Avenue Road to the west, and it is part of The Annex neighbo ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

as well as Zurich, Berlin, London, Paris and

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

The Extraordinary Journey

In 1996 McGivern went on an off-road driving trip across the Middle East, following the British adventurer

Wilfred Thesiger Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger (3 June 1910 – 24 August 2003), also known as Mubarak bin Landan ( ar, مُبَارَك بِن لَنْدَن, ''the blessed one of London'') was a British military officer, explorer, and writer. Thesiger's trav ...

's path through the deserts of

and

, covering 3,000 miles in eight days. While driving through the deserts she was amazed with the colours she saw and the richness of the sands which opened up a new concept to her work, where her acrylic paintings now recounted the deserts from a Canadian prospective, using gold as a colour as opposed to a precious metal. "My paintings are inspired by my trips, especially to the deserts of Oman and the UAE. I found the dunes to be a magical place with colours that I never thought could be possible in such a vastness of sand" stated McGivern in 1998. She was commissioned to do 22 paintings for the

Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel Jumeirah Emirates Hotel Tower, also known as Emirates Tower Two, is a 56-floor hotel in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The hotel includes 40 luxury suites and is operated by Jumeirah Group. Connected with the Emirates Office Tower by a ...

. Her work has been sold to major collectors such as

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum ( ar, محمد بن راشد آل مكتوم, links=no; ; born 15 July 1949) is the vice president, prime minister, and minister of defence of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as well as the ruler of Dubai. H ...

and the

Al Qasimi Al Qasimi ( ar, القواسم, spelled sometimes as Al Qassimi or Al Qassemi; plural: Al Qawasem ar, القواسم and, archaically, Joasmee) is an Arab dynasty in the Persian Gulf that rules Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, today forming two of ...

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

as well as different corporate collectors. When asked to do two horses for the Dubai's Celebration of Arabian Horses, her horse ''Victory'' was commissioned by Frayland and Penquin, Engineering and was the third largest winner in the auction held by

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

for 210,000 AED. The second horse ''Red Fantasy'' was also commissioned by Delwood Consultancy. McGivern represented Canada at the Women & Art, 2005, A Global Perspective,

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital o ...

Solo exhibitions

* 2009 Lando Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada * 2009 Gallerie Bohner, Manhiem, Germany * 2008 Arts Club, London, England * 2007 Lindsay Gallery, Lindsay, Ontario. * 2006 Nomad Gallery, London, England * 2006 Spoke Gallery, Toronto, Ontario * 2005 Grand Canvas', Majlis Gallery, Grand Hyatt, Dubai, UAE * 2005 Lando Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta * 2005 INDEX 05, Canadian Pavilion, Dubai, UAE * 2004 Extraordinary Journey, Majlis Gallery, Dubai, UAE * 2004 INDEX 04, Canadian Pavilion, Dubai, UAE * 2002 Westdale Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario * 2001 Paintings in My Mind, Teodora Art Gallery, Toronto * 2000 Makepeace, McGivern, Furniture & Painting, Prime Gallery, Toronto * 1999 Teodora Art Gallery, Original Sense, Toronto, Ontario * 1999 Extraordinary Journey, Ozten Zeki Gallery London, England * 1997 The Barnes Collection Series, Musée Hotel Baudy, Giverny, France * 1997 Extraordinary Journey, Teodora Art Gallery, Toronto * 1996 An Evening in the Eastend, Teodora Art Gallery, Toronto * 1995 Galerie Company, Paris, France 1993 Schieder & Assoc., Toronto 1988-93 Various Solo Shows

Museum exhibitions

Barbara's work has been shown in the following museum exhibitions: * 2007 The Lindsay Gallery, Lindsay, Ontario * 2005 Vernon Art Gallery, Vernon, B.C * 2004 Glynhurst Art Gallery, Brantford, Ontario * 2004 Temiskaming Art Gallery, Extraordinary Journey, Haileybury

Museum collections

Barbara's work can be found in the following museum collections: *

Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art The Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada (MOCA), formerly known as the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA), is a museum and art gallery in Toronto, Ontario. It is an independent, registered charitable organization. ...

, Toronto *

The Robert McLaughlin Gallery The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a public art gallery in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest public art gallery in the Regional Municipality of Durham, of which Oshawa is a part. The gallery houses a significant collection of Canadian conte ...

, Oshawa * University College, University of Toronto * Art Gallery of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta * Art Gallery of Mississauga * Art Gallery of Peel, Brampton * Baycrest Centre, Toronto * Mt. Sinai Hospital, Toronto * Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto

Selected collections

* HH General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum * Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai * Cee Cee Holdings, Dubai, UAE * Royal Collection, Sharjah, UAE * Compass, Dubai, UAE * Designdivision, Dubai, UAE * Emirates Tower Hotel, Dubai, UAE * Eytzinger Gold, Schwabach, Germany * Ghandour Building, Beirut, Lebanon * Bernstein Hounsfield & Assoc., London, England * Cannex Financial Inc., Toronto * Danson, Zucker & Connelly, Toronto * Electric Light Company, London, England * Lever Brothers, Toronto * Saatchi & Saatchi, Compton Hayhurst, (Canada) Ltd. * Teck Corporation, Vancouver, B.C. * Union Carbide, Toronto

Group exhibitions

Barbara's work has been part of the following group exhibitions: * 2000 Bait Muzna Gallery, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman * 1999 NOT the Royal Academy Show, London, England * 1999 Royal Academy Summer Show, selected but not hung, London, England * 1999 Pratt & Whitney, Invited Artist, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada * 1999 Teodora Art Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada * 1998 Majlis Gallery, Dubai, UAE * 1998 Teodora Art Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada * 1998 Royal Academy Summer Show, Selected but not hung, London, England * 1998 NOT the Royal Academy Show, Salon des Refuses, London, England * 1997 Art Expo '97, Teodora Art Gallery, New York, United States * 1997 THE ART & TECHNOLOGY CIRCUS, Audart, New York, United States * 1997 The Majlis Gallery, Dubai, UAE. * 1996 "GIFTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION", Art Gallery of North York * 1996 "TNT", Audart Gallery, New York, United States * 1996 Miami Art Fair, Miami, Florida (Teodora Art Gallery) * 1995 A.C.I. (juried) Virtuosity Art Fair, New York, N.Y. Bau-Xi Art Gallery * 1995 Teodora Art Gallery * 1994 Schieder & Associates Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada * 1993 Schieder & Associates Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada * 1992 John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada * 1992 Art Contemporain du Canada, Adar Tajan, Paris, France * 1992 Kenneith Gallery, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada * 1990 Sarnia Public Gallery, (Juried), Sarnia, Ontario, Canada * 1990 Peel Regional Art Gallery, (Juried), Brampton, Ontario, Canada * 1989 Latcham Gallery, (Juried), Stouffville, Ontario, Canada * 1988 Bonnie Kagan Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Commissions

McGivern has been commissioned by the following companies: * Swarovski Crystals, Dubai, UAE * Emirates Tower Hotel, Dubai, UAE * JL Albright Venture Partners, Toronto, Ontario, Canada * ArtWorks, Dubai, UAE * Frayland Consulting and Interiors, Dubai, UAE * Dellwood Consultancy, Dubai, UAE * Unesco, Christmas cards 2003–2004, Snecma Moteurs, CDC IXIS Securities * Matrix Hotel, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada * Luigi Malones, Dublin, Ireland

Auctions

Barbara's work has been auctioned by the following: * 2013 Contemporary Canadian Art, Heffler Fine Art, Toronto, ON, Canada * 2009 The Arts Club, Bonham's, London, England * 2009 Bonham's, Toronto, ON, Canada * 2006 The Arabian Horse, Christie's, Dubai, UAE * 1993 Art Contemporain du Canada, Ader Tajan, Paris, France

References

External links

Society of Canadian Artist

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGivern, Barbara 1955 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Canadian women artists 21st-century Canadian women artists Artists from Toronto OCAD University alumni