Sarah Margaret Armour Robertson (June 16, 1891 – December 6, 1948) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

painter of

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of Terrestrial ecoregion, land, its landforms, and how they integrate with Nature, natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionar ...

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

s, and

murals A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...

for private homes.

Early life

Robertson was born in Montreal on June 16, 1891, the daughter of John Armour Robertson and Jessie Anne Christie, and the oldest of four siblings. Her parents were originally from Scotland. She was educated in Montreal. During her childhood, the family lived comfortably, but later faced financial struggles. She began art studies at the age of nineteen with a Wood Scholarship to 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 ...

under

William Brymner William Brymner, (December 14, 1855 – June 18, 1925) was a Canadian figure and landscape painter and educator. In addition to playing a key role in the development of Impressionism in Canada, Brymner taught numerous artists who became leadin ...

and Maurice Cullen.

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

interrupted her studies, after which she continued them from 1921 to 1924 under

Randolph Hewton Randolph Stanley Hewton (June 12, 1888 – March 17, 1960) was a Canadian artist, known for his figurative work and as a colorist. Career He was born in Maple Grove, Quebec, and studied with William Brymner at the Art Association of Montr ...

, a founding member of the

Canadian Group of Painters The Canadian Group of Painters (CGP) was a collective of 28 painters from across Canada who came together as a group in 1933. Formation The Canadian Group of Painters succeeded the disbanded Group of Seven, whose paintings of the Canadian wilde ...

, and Wood Scholarship winner.

Artistic career

During her last few years at the Art Association, Robertson joined former and current students, and fellow artists, along with her teacher Randolph Hewton, in 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 ...

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 ...

was the president of the group named after the Montreal street, Beaver Hall Hill. Robertson became close friends with

Prudence Heward Prudence Heward (July 5, 1896 – March 19, 1947)Ferrari, Prudence. "Prudence Heward: Painting at Home." (2001). In ''Framing Our Past: Canadian Women's History in the Twentieth Century,'' S.A. Cook, L.R. McLean, and K. O'Rourke, eds. Montreal: Mc ...

. Both painters were dedicated to their art and often painted together. Robertson's work was shown in a solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada in 1951. Robertson also exhibited in the United States, in group exhibitions at the

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

in 1944, the

Museu Nacional de Belas Artes The Museu Nacional de Belas Artes (MNBA; Portuguese for National Museum of Fine Arts) is a national art museum located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The museum, officially established in 1937 by the initiative of education minister , wa ...

in Rio de Janeiro, and the

Riverside Museum The Riverside Museum (formerly known as the Glasgow Museum of Transport) is a museum in Glasgow, housed in a building at Pointhouse Quay in the Glasgow Harbour regeneration district of Glasgow, Scotland. The building opened in June 2011, winnin ...

in New York.

Later life

Joseph and Marie-Louise by Sarah Robertson

Robertson's later work was freer in composition and bolder in colors. It reflected her love of nature, and her unique style. She died on 6 December 1948 in Montreal.

Associations with other artists and groups

The Beaver Hall Group was a

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 ...

-based group of

painters who met in late 1910 while studying art at a school run by the

Nora Collyer Nora Frances Elizabeth Collyer (June 7, 1898 – June 11, 1979) was a Canadian modernist painter who was inspired by the Canadian landscape, nature, and urban communities. Both an artist and a teacher, she received her formal art training at the Art ...

Emily Coonan Emily Coonan (25 March 1885 – 23 June 1971) was a Canadian impressionist and post-impressionist painter, born in the Pointe-Saint-Charles area of Montreal. As a member of the Beaver Hall Group, Coonan mostly did figure paintings. Influenced by ...

, Prudence Heward,

Mabel Lockerby Mabel Irene Lockerby (March 13, 1882 – May 1, 1976) was a Canadian artist. Career Lockerby`s birth year is sometimes attributed as 1887 from her own curriculum vitae but she was actually born in 1882 She was born in Montreal to Alexander ...

Mabel May Henrietta Mabel May (or H. Mabel May as she was sometimes known) (September 11, 1877 – October 8, 1971) was a Canadian artist in the early 20th century. She helped organize two significant groups of Canadian artists and extended collegialit ...

Kathleen Morris Kathleen "Kay" Moir Morris (December 2, 1893 – December 20, 1986) was a Canadians, Canadian painter and member of the Beaver Hall Group. Biography The fourth child and only daughter of Montague John Morris and Eliza Howard Bell, she was bor ...

Lilias Torrance Newton Lilias Torrance Newton LL. D. (November 3, 1896 – January 10, 1980) was a Canadian painterAnne Savage and

Ethel Seath Ethel Seath (February 5, 1879 – April 10, 1963) was a Canadian artist. Seath was a prominent figure on the Montreal art scene for sixty years and her artistic work included being a painter, printmaker (etching), commercial artist, and art in ...

were part of this group, sometimes known the Beaver Hall Hill Group or Beaver Hall Women. This association of nineteen Montreal artists, eight of whom were women, had been committed to developing distinctive artistic visions while acknowledging the influence of the

Group of Seven The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". It is official ...

, and French modernism. The Beaver Hall artists held their annual exhibition at their studios on Beaver Hall Hill. By the end of 1921, the Beaver Hall group ran into serious financial difficulties which necessitated relinquishing their studios. The men went their own way, but most of the women remained in close touch with each other. In the summers, Robertson would also visit Prudence Heward at her family's summer home near

Brockville Brockville, formerly Elizabethtown, is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Although it is the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, it is politically Independent city, independent of the county. It i ...

on the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

. At the same time, Robertson also maintained a long correspondence with

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 ...

, who offered vital critical judgment. Jackson was a close friend of both Robertson and Heward. Some of Robertson’s paintings were inspired by her visits to the Hewards' summer home. Robertson was a founding member of the

, exhibiting with them for many years. The group was made up of 28 different English-speaking painters from across Canada. This group was instrumental in establishing a new direction for Canadian art, expressing the diversity of the Canadian experience of landscapes and buildings based on the vision of the Group of Seven.

Exhibitions and collections

Robertson's paintings appeared in exhibitions of Canadian art at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, England, in 1924 and 1925 and she was invited to participate in shows by the

in 1928, 1930 and 1931. Robertson's works are 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

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts 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 ...

, the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

, and the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...

. Although she mainly painted landscapes in

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

, she also painted

s and portraits, as well as murals for private homes.

References

Bibliography

* Millar, Joyce. "The Beaver Hall Group: Painting in Montreal, 1920-1940." Woman's Art Journal 13.1 (1992): 3. Web. * ''"Independent spirit: early Canadian women artists''." Choice Reviews Online 46.09 (2009): n. page. Web. {{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Sarah 1891 births 1948 deaths Canadian women painters Painters from Montreal 20th-century Canadian painters 20th-century Canadian women artists