Yvonne McKague Housser, (1897–1996) was a

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

Canadian painter, and a teacher.

Early life and education

Yvonne McKague was born in

Toronto 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 ...

in 1897 to Hugh Henry McKague and Louise Elliott. She studied at the

Ontario College of Art 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 ...

(OCA), Toronto, from 1913 to 1918, with

George Agnew Reid George Agnew Reid (also known as G. A. Reid) (July 25, 1860 – August 23, 1947) was a Canadian artist, painter, influential educator and administrator. He is best known as a genre painter, but his work encompassed the mural, and genre, f ...

, J. W. Beatty, William Cruikshank, Robert Holmes and

Emanuel Hahn Emanuel Otto Hahn (30 May 1881 – 14 February 1957) was a German-born Canadian sculptor and coin designer. He taught and later married Elizabeth Wyn Wood. He co-founded and was the first president of the Sculptors' Society of Canada. Biograph ...

Career

A group of artists and friends at Whitefish Falls in 1936

After one more year as post-graduate and assistant, Housser began teaching as assistant instructor 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 ...

, then called OCA. In the 1920 OCA Prospectus, she and Edith Coombs were the only women listed on the teaching staff. In 1921–1922, Housser took a leave of absence to study in Paris, France, at the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Acadé ...

, Académie Colarossi, and

Académie Ranson The Académie Ranson was founded in Paris by the French painter Paul Ranson (1862–1909), who himself studied at the Académie Julian, in 1908.

. In 1923, she first exhibited her work with the

Royal Canadian Academy The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...

, and in 1924 with the

Ontario Society of Artists The Ontario Society of Artists (OSA) was founded in 1872. It is Canada's oldest continuously operating professional art society. When it was founded at the home of John Arthur Fraser, seven artists were present. Besides Fraser himself, Marmaduke M ...

of which became a member in 1928. From 1926, she showed her work in numerous solo and group shows in the Heliconian Club in Toronto, also in the Art Gallery of Toronto and in private galleries. 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 ...

in Oshawa held her

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

in 1995 curated by Joan Murray. McKague also was 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 ...

in 1933 (President, 1955-1956), and the

Federation of Canadian Artists The Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) is an association of artists in Canada founded in Toronto in 1941. The FCA soon had chapters across the country, and was one of the main forces behind formation of the Canada Council in 1957. After this, the ...

in 1941. She was made a full member of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...

in 1951. She retired from the Ontario College of Art in 1946 but went on to teach at the Doon School of Fine Art in Kitchener and at the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto (now

Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public university, public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Garden District, although i ...

) and elsewhere. In 1954, she was one of eighteen Canadian artists commissioned by the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

to paint a

mural 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 Spani ...

for the interior of one of the new Park cars entering service on the new ''

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 ...

'' transcontinental train. Each mural depicts a different national or provincial park; Housser's was Sibley Provincial Park. She was the only woman artist who was asked to do a mural. She received the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

in 1984 and received the OCA's

A. J. Casson Alfred Joseph Casson LL. D. (May 17, 1898 – February 20, 1992) was a member of the Canadian group of artists known as the Group of Seven. He joined the group in 1926 at the invitation of Franklin Carmichael, replacing Frank Johnston. Cas ...

Award for Distinguished Service in 1991.

Group of Seven

Housser was invited to exhibit with 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 ...

in 1928, 1930 and 1931. The group disbanded to form the country-wide

in 1933, of which Housser was a founding member. In 1935 she married Frederick B. Housser, financial editor of the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

and author of ''A Canadian Art Movement: The Story of the Group of Seven'', published in 1926.

Collections

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 ...

, Toronto *

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 ...

* Art Gallery of Hamilton *

McMichael Canadian Art Collection The McMichael Canadian Art Collection (MCAC) is an art museum in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located on a property in Kleinburg, an unincorporated village in Vaughan. The property includes the museum's main building, a sculpture garde ...

Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec ( en, National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), abbreviated as MNBAQ, is an art museum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The museum is situated in Battlefield Park and is a complex consisting of four bui ...

, Oshawa

Legacy

In 1998, Housser was one of the four artists in ''4 Women Who Painted in the 1930s and 1940s'', curated by Alicia Boutilier for the Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa.

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Toronto Star obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Housser, Yvonne Mckague 20th-century Canadian painters 1897 births 1996 deaths Canadian women painters Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts 20th-century Canadian women artists Canadian art educators Members of the Order of Canada Canadian collage artists