The Canadian Art Club was an artists' group established 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 anch ...

in 1907 to advance the standards of Canadian art exhibitions and to exhibit the work of distinguished Canadian artists, particularly those who had studied abroad or lived there. It declined after the death of its co-founder Edmund Morris in 1913, ceased to exist in 1915 but was not formally dissolved till 1933.

History

The Canadian Art Club, a private exhibiting society, originated in Toronto from 1907 and had a membership (by invitation only) of 20 artists. The Club, modeled on Whistler's

International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers was a union of professional artists that existed from 1898 to 1925, "To promote the study, practice, and knowledge of sculpture, painting, etching, lithographing, engraving, and kindred ...

, encouraged achievement of individuals and was nationalist in persuading expatriates to exhibit at home, but defined nationality in only the broadest terms. Its eight exhibitions hoped to establish a high standard for other artists and concentrated on small, carefully hung groups of works by leading Canadian artists. It was supported by its lay members. The annual exhibitions organized in Toronto, and in Montreal in 1910, included some of the finest work being produced by Canadian artists. Membership included painters and sculptors and was by invitation only. Edmund Morris and Homer Watson were key figures in its formation and the first exhibition included work by Horatio Walker, working in New York since 1885, and

James Wilson Morrice James Wilson Morrice (August 10, 1865 – January 23, 1924) was one of the first Canadian landscape painters to be known internationally. He studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, France, where he lived for most of his career. James Morrice S ...

of Paris (since 1890). Later expatriate exhibitors included

Ernest Lawson Ernest Lawson (March 22, 1873 – December 18, 1939) was a Canadian-American painter and exhibited his work at the Canadian Art Club and as a member of the American group The Eight, artists who formed a loose association in 1908 to protes ...

, James Kerr-Lawson, and the sculptor

Alexander Phimister Proctor Alexander Phimister Proctor (September 27, 1860 – September 5, 1950) was an American sculptor with the contemporary reputation as one of the nation's foremost animaliers. Birth and early years Proctor was born on September 27, 1860 in Bo ...

. Montreal members included Maurice Cullen, Clarence Gagnon, William H. Clapp,

Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté (April 6, 1869 – January 29, 1937) was a French Canadian painter and sculptor. He was one of the first native-born Canadian artists whose works were directly influenced by French Impressionism and Post-Impre ...

, and Henri Hébert. The only woman invited to exhibit with the Club was Laura Muntz, later

Laura Muntz Lyall Laura Muntz Lyall (June 18, 1860 – December 9, 1930) was a Canadian Impressionist painter, known for her sympathetic portrayal of women and children. Life and work Laura Adeline Muntz was born at Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, Engla ...

, in 1908, who lived in Montreal at the time.(Horatio Walker had warned Morris to "keep clear of women artists, as of the devil"). The main instigators of the Club were the painters Edmund Morris and Curtis Williamson, who were "deeply disturbed by the tired, old-fashioned look of Canadian art as seen in the various annual exhibitions" and attempted to establish higher standards through small shows. Membership of the Club was by invitation only. Homer Watson was the first president, and other founding members included the Scottish-born William Brymner, who had been the one of the first Canadian painters to study in Paris (at the Académie Julian), Morrice, Horatio Walker, Franklin Brownell, William Edwin Atkinson and J. Archibald Browne as secretary. The work of these artists was varied in style and subject, but generally it showed influence from

Impressionism 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 ...

and Whistler. Their eight exhibitions were well received, but the Club disbanded in 1915, having lost some of its momentum because of the death by drowning of Morris in 1913 and because of the distractions of the First World War, personality clashes among some of the members and the modest financial reward. However, the Club helped to prepare the way for the Group of Seven. The papers of the Club can be found in the Canadian Art Club Fonds CA OTAG SC009, Art Gallery of Ontario E. P. Taylor Research Library and Archives, Toronto.

Influences

The members of the Club who exhibited their work were highly influenced by the Hague school,

Barbizon school The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name ...

and British plein-air painting, by Whistler and the Impressionists. Works by the members were well received by critics, and the Club's activists played the roles of important catalysts for both artistic and institutional change.

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 ...

often acknowledged his debt to Maurice Cullen in such statements as "to us he was a hero".A. Y.Jackson, ''A Painter's Country''. Toronto, Clarke Irwin, (1958), p. 19..

Notable members

* Homer Watson * Franklin Brownell * Maurice Galbraith Cullen * Clarence Alphonse Gagnon *

* Horatio Walker * William Brymner * Edmund Montague Morris *

References

Bibliography

*Artfact.com
The Canadian Art Club
Retrieved 1 June 2012 *Linteau, Paul-André; Durocher, René; Robert, Jean-Claude; and Chodos, Robert (1983)
''Quebec, A History''
James Lorimer & Company. *Murray, Joan (1999)
''Canadian Art in the Twentieth Century''
Dundurn Press Ltd. * *Reid, Dennis (1989). ''A concise history of Canadian painting'', 2nd edition. Oxford University Press. {{Canadian art Canadian artist groups and collectives 1907 establishments in Ontario