|
Arthur Lismer, painter, educator (b at Sheffield, Eng 27 June 1885; d at Montréal 23 Mar 1969). Lismer studied at Sheffield School of Art 1899-1906 and the Académie royale des beaux-arts, Antwerp, 1906-07. He moved to Canada in 1911, seeking work as a commercial illustrator. At the Grip Engraving Co in Toronto, he met J.E.H. MACDONALD, Tom THOMSON and F.H. JOHNSTON, and, shortly thereafter, Frank CARMICHAEL. In 1912 he returned to England to marry and spoke so highly of Canada that F.H. VARLEY followed him to Toronto.
Lismer began his distinguished career as an art educator as principal of the Victoria School of Art and Design (later NOVA SCOTIA COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN) in Halifax 1916-19. A prodigious worker, he painted views of Halifax harbour and returning troopships for Canadian War Records in 1918-19. He returned to Toronto to become vice-president of the ONTARIO COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN in 1919 and in 1920 became a founding member of the GROUP OF SEVEN. Lismer's first Canadian paintings were heavily influenced by John Constable, but during the 1920s he developed a powerful expressionist style of his own, characterized by raw colour, heavy impasto, deliberately coarse brushwork and simplified form. But Lismer devoted most of his time to art education. From 1927 to 1938 he was the educational supervisor at the Art Gallery of Toronto (now ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO). In 1932 he undertook a nationwide lecture tour; invitations to conferences in Europe and South Africa followed, and he returned to teach in South Africa in 1936-37. In 1938 he was visiting professor at Teachers' College, Columbia. He ran the Montreal Children's Art Centre, affiliated with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from 1941 to 1967. This activity left Lismer with little time to paint, but he produced many of his most original works after 1930, painting first in the Maritimes and Georgian Bay, and from 1951 at Long Beach, on Vancouver Island, each summer. The lurid, intestinal and claustrophobic qualities of many of these paintings were not to contemporary taste, but have gained acceptance in recent years, for they seem to have developed from a form of deep, personal expressionism.
 September Gale, Georgian BayArthur Lismer, 1920, finished oil painting on canvas (courtesy NGC, bequest of Vincent Massey).
 September Gale, SketchArthur Lismer, 1920, oil sketch on panel (courtesy Dr John Parnell, Vancouver).
 Privacity AgentB.K. Sandwell, editor of "Saturday Night," employed Swiftian irony in his essay "The Privacity Agent" (1928) to contrast the 20th century with happier past eras. Illustration by Arthur Lismer, 1928.
Author
CHRISTOPHER VARLEY
Suggested Reading
John McLeish, September Gale: A Study of Arthur Lismer of the Group of Seven (1955).
Links to Other Sites
Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery
This website showcases the unique art collection of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven at the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery. It also offers related biographies, chronologies, and commentaries on specific paintings.
Face to Face: The Canadian Personalities Hall
Face to Face presents outstanding Canadians – men and women whose ideas and contributions have transformed this country. From the website for the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
Arthur Lismer
An online gallery of drawings by Arthur Lismer, distinguished educator and member of the Group of Seven. From the Arts & Letters Club website.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| David Thompson was an outsider, struggling to find a foothold in the empire that had consumed his country... |
|
| Pierre Elliott Trudeau, politician, writer, constitutional lawyer, prime minister of Canada 1968-79 and 1980-84 (b at ... |
|
|
| Few countries were affected as severely as Canada by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. It is estimated that ... |
|
|
| Louis Riel, Métis leader, founder of Manitoba, central figure in the NORTH-WEST REBELLION (b at Red River ... |
|
|
| Few countries were affected as severely as Canada by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. It is estimated that ... |
|
|
| Evangelical Christian Church, often called the Christian Church (Christian Disciples), is a denomination stemming from ... |
|
|
| The Group of Seven was founded in 1920 as an organization of self-proclaimed modern artists. The original members - ... |
|
|
| Sears Canada Inc, headquartered in Toronto, is a Canadian retailer incorporated in 1952. In 1953 operating under the ... |
|
|
| John Ware, "Nigger John," horseman, rancher (b near Georgetown, SC 1845; d near Brooks, Alta 11 Sept 1905). ... |
|
|
| Land claims are dealt with by a process established by the federal government to enable INDIANS, INUIT and ... |
|
Browse the rich visual resources of The Canadian Encyclopedia through thematic galleries of Canadian Art, History, Nature, People, and Science and Technology.
Illustrations, lively text, animations, sounds and games help make learning about Canadian history, art, geography, architecture and other topics entertaining as well as informative.
The ultimate test of your knowledge of Canada, trivial and otherwise. You can choose from more than 60 dynamic quizzes with visual or text clues. Your scores depend on the speed with which you answer and the number of clues you need. Results are sent to you by email and high scores are posted on the site.
This unique resource includes more than 6000 events from Canadian and world history. It can be searched by era, subject, keyword or date. To find out what happened on your birthday, select the month and day of your birth.
This selection of the 100 "greatest" events in Canadian history was made by editor in chief James H. Marsh to draw attention to events that have left an indelible memory in the minds of later generations.
| THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC IN CANADA |
|
| Annie Glen Broder (b Glen, m Broder). Pianist, teacher, critic, b Agra, India, 18?? d Calgary 18 Aug 1937. Educated in England, she was a pupil of Sir Arthur Sullivan and Sir John Stainer at the RCM. She performed widely as an ... |
|
|
