Mabel Killam Day (1884–1960) was a Canadian artist.
She specialized in painting urban life, landscapes, seascapes, and still life arrangements.
[Steven McNeil, Acquisition Proposal for Mabel Killam Day’s Blue Water, Stormy Sea, and The Milk Bottle, accession #41464, #41463, and #41467, Curatorial File, National Gallery of Canada.]
Biography
Mabel Killam was born in
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
Yarmouth is a town in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. A port town, industries include fishing, and tourism. It is the terminus of a ferry service to Bar Harbor, Maine, run by Bay Ferries.
History
Originally inhabited by the Mi'kmaq, the regi ...
, on July 7, 1884.
Between 1900 and 1904, she studied art under John Hammond at the
Mount Allison Ladies' College, presumably developing the ability to paint atmospheric land and seascapes as well as conventional still life arrangements.
In 1905, Killam moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
where she studied with
Robert Henri
Robert Henri (; June 24, 1865 – July 12, 1929) was an American painter and teacher.
As a young man, he studied in Paris, where he identified strongly with the Impressionists, and determined to lead an even more dramatic revolt against A ...
at the
New York School of Art
Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...
and later at the Henri School of Art on Broadway, where she was a contemporary of
Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching.
Hopper created subdued drama ...
and
George Bellows
George Wesley Bellows (August 12 or August 19, 1882 – January 8, 1925) was an American realism, American realist painting, painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City. He became, according to the Columbus Museum of Art ...
. Henri said of her, "Anyone who can make such a fresh, frank, (and) big transcriptions from nature . . . . . . can be a great artist and a true one." In New York City she began painting portraits of her friends and colleagues as well as scenes of urban life in New York.
Killam moved back to Nova Scotia around 1907 and painted modern seascapes.
She married
Frank Parker Day
Frank Parker Day (9 May 1881 – 30 July 1950) was a Canadian athlete, academic and author.
Since Day's father was a Methodist minister who moved to a new congregation every three years, Day spent his youth living throughout Nova Scotia, living ...
(1881–1950), an English professor at the
University of New Brunswick
The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...
in 1910. They lived in
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...
, for two years before moving to
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, in 1912. Frank was the Head of the English Department and Director of Academic Studies at the
Carnegie Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...
, and Mabel immediately became active in the local art community.
During WWI, Mabel Killam Day lived in London while her husband served in the Canadian Forces. In 1918, after the war, they returned to Yarmouth, where their son Donald was born. In 1926, the Days moved to Philadelphia, and in 1928 they moved to Schenectady, New York. They moved back to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 1933, where Mabel continued to paint and exhibit well into her seventies.
Art career
Mabel Killam Day's first exhibition of her work occurred in New York in 1909,
and her first solo exhibition was in 1923 at the
Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh are four museums that are operated by the Carnegie Institute headquartered in the Carnegie Institute complex in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Carnegie Institute complex, which includes th ...
.
Mabel Killam Day also exhibited at the
Associated Artists of Pittsburgh Associated Artists of Pittsburgh (AAP) is the oldest, and largest nonprofit visual arts membership organization in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States and the oldest continuously exhibiting visual arts organization in America.
History
Associat ...
Annual Exhibition from 1912 to 1914, the Carnegie Institute's International Exhibition of Painting from 1913-1914, and the First Annual Experimentalist Salon in 1913.
She displayed work at the 1920, 1923, and 1926 Carnegie Institute International Exhibitions of Painting; the 1922, 1926, and 1927 Annual Exhibitions of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh; and the 118th Annual Exhibition of the
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryl ...
in 1923. She had another solo exhibition of her work in Schenectady at the
College Women's Club
The College Women's Club was a women's club founded in 1920 based in Berkeley, California. It organized Berkeley's first cooperative day nursery and established scholarships.
The building
The College Women's Club building was built by Walter T. St ...
in 1929. In Yarmouth, Mabel continued to exhibit her work with the Nova Scotia Society of Artists and the
Maritime Art Association The Maritime Art Association (1935–1945) was a Canadian regional alliance of art clubs and societies, public schools, universities, social organizations, service and civic groups, artists, art students and art appreciators. As the first organi ...
.
Posthumously, she was honoured with a solo exhibition in 1996 by the
Acadia University
Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia ...
Art Gallery and the
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...
Art Gallery.
Her work is included in the collections of the
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...
, the
Dalhousie Arts Centre
The Dalhousie Arts Centre, at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, contains a number of theatres (including an outdoor rooftop theatre), Dalhousie Art Gallery, classrooms, and a sculpture garden. It remains the premier performing arts ve ...
,
the Acadia University Art Gallery, the
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) is a public provincial art museum based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The art museum's primary building complex is located in downtown Halifax and takes up approximately of space. The museum complex compr ...
, the
Nova Scotia Museum
Nova Scotia Museum (NSM) is the corporate name for the 28 museums across Nova Scotia, Canada, and is part of the province's tourism infrastructure. The organization manages more than 200 historic buildings, living history sites, vessels, and speci ...
, and the
Owens Art Gallery
Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839.
Like other liberal arts colleges in North America, Mount Allison does not parti ...
.
Death
Mabel Killam Day died on August 26, 1960, in her hometown of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Mabel Killam
20th-century Canadian women artists
1884 births
1960 deaths
20th-century Canadian artists
People from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
Artists from Nova Scotia
Mount Allison University alumni