Naomi Jackson Groves (1910 – December 25, 2001) was a Canadian painter, art historian and linguist. An expert on German

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

artist

Ernst Barlach Ernst Heinrich Barlach (2 January 1870 – 24 October 1938) was a German expressionist sculptor, medallist, printmaker and writer. Although he was a supporter of the war in the years leading to World War I, his participation in the war made him c ...

, she translated a number of his works in addition to releasing a series of books about her uncle, painter

A. Y. Jackson Alexander Young Jackson LL. D. (October 3, 1882April 5, 1974) was a Canadian painter and a founding member of the Group of Seven. Jackson made a significant contribution to the development of art in Canada, and was instrumental in bringing toget ...

, and translations of artist

Jens Rosing Jens Christian Rosing (28 July 1925 – 24 May 2008) was a notable Greenlandic artist, author and storyteller. He designed the coat of arms of Greenland, many Greenlandic postage stamps, as well as illustrated children's books and created divers ...

's writing.

Biography

Groves was born in

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 ...

, Canada, in 1910. She was the daughter of artist H. A. C. Jackson and the niece of painter

. As a child she grew up speaking French and English, learning Danish from a family in the neighborhood. At the age of 18 she traveled to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

to spend a year with the family, becoming fluent in the language. Unable to continue studying Danish at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

, due to lack of course availability, she studied German and was awarded a Governor General's gold medal for modern languages her academic achievements in 1933. She obtained a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

the same year and completed

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in 1935. Groves began studying art at the

Art Association of Montreal The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA; french: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, MBAM) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square ...

(AAM) as a high-school student where she was taught by Harold Beament and Sarah Robertson, of the

Beaver Hall Group The Beaver Hall Group refers to a Montreal-based group of Canadian painters who met in the late 1910s while studying art at a school run by the Art Association of Montreal. The Group is notable for its equal inclusion of men and women artists, as w ...

. She studied art while in Denmark and returned to the AAM in 1936, receiving instruction from

Lilias Torrance Newton Lilias Torrance Newton LL. D. (November 3, 1896 – January 10, 1980) was a Canadian painter Groves, whose landscape oil paintings are held in collections at 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 Robert McLaughlin Art Gallery and the

McMaster Museum of Art The McMaster Museum of Art (MMA) is a non-profit public art gallery at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. The museum is located in the centre of the campus, attached to Mills Memorial Library and close to the McMaster University Student Cen ...

, wished to paint full-time, but was encouraged by her parents to pursue work in academia due to the financial instability of an artistic career. In 1936 Groves was awarded a travel scholarship by the Canadian Federation of University Women to Germany. Prior to beginning her studies, she traveled and painted in France and Germany with her uncle, A. Y. Jackson. The diaries the pair kept during the two-month trip were the basis for Groves' book ''Two Jacksons Abroad'' (2000), which includes correspondence and reproductions of their drawings and paintings from this period. It was during this trip that she discovered

artist

. Groves went on to become a leading expert of his work, translating several of his publications. Barlach was the focus of her doctoral dissertation, ''Ernst Barlach : the development of a versatile genius'', which she started at

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

in 1937 and later completed at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1950 after her studies were put on hold during the war. Between 1940 and 1942 Groves taught German at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, before moving to

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

where, until 1943, she worked as an assistant to the director of the National Gallery of Canada and taught German at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...

. As a member of the Quaker's Friends Service Committee, Groves traveled to Finnish-Lapland where from 1945 to 1947 she assisted with the post-war relief effort including food programs and the reintroduction of education programs. Excerpts from Groves diary, along with photographs and illustrations, were published in the 1989 book ''Winter Into Summer Lapland Diary, 1945–1946.''

Later life

In 1951, after completing her PhD, Groves took a position at

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...

where she reestablished and chaired the department of fine arts, following its closure during the war. She remained at the school until 1958, where her interest in Barlach influenced the acquisition of several German expressionist prints held by the school's McMaster Museum of Art. Groves relocated to Ottawa after marrying her husband, James Walton Groves (1906–1970), then Chief of the Mycology Section of

Agriculture Canada Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC; sometimes Ag-Canada; french: Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada)''Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Agriculture ...

's Botany Division, in 1957. The couple had met as family friends thanks to her father's interest in fungi. In addition to her translations for Barlach's writing, Groves translated several works by Greenlandic artist and writer

and authored or edited several books about A.Y. Jackson. She received honorary doctorates in literature from McMaster in 1972 and Carleton in 1990, and was awarded the Order of Canada in 1993.

Death

Groves died in Ottawa on December 25, 2001. A funeral service was held in her honour at the Christ Church Cathedral on December 29.

Publications

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Translations

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References