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Beaver Hall Group member Prudence Heward in 1927.

The Beaver Hall Group refers to a Montreal based assemblage of Canadian female painters who met in the late 1910s while studying art at a school run by the Art Association of Montreal and continued their informal association into the early 1960s.[1] Artistically, they painted a variety of subjects, including portraits, landscapes, urban scenes and still lifes, in a combination of Modernist and traditional styles.[2]

The Beaver Hall Group also refers to a formal association of Canadian painters formed in May 1920 which included five of those female painters[3], and after which their continuing association was named.

Members

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The ten female artists who are together known as the Beaver Hall Group were:[4]

History

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Inaugurated through the efforts of Randolph Hewton, Edwin Holgate, Mabel May and Lilias Torrance Newton, the group took its name from Beaver Hall Hill, the downtown Montreal street where its members shared studio space.[5] Many of the group's participants had studied under William Brymner (1855–1925), a prominent Canadian artist who encouraged them to explore new modernistic approaches to painting.

In an era when women artists were viewed as little more than hobbyists and were left out of the mainstream world of professional art, the Beaver Hall Group was the first Canadian artists association in which women played a central role. Although the American painter Mary Cassatt had inspired many, Cassatt had had to move permanently to France to get serious recognition for her work. At least one member of the group, Prudence Heward, would follow Cassatt's lead and study in Paris.

Originally made up of eleven men and eight women[6], the Beaver Hall Group was formed in May 1920 with A. Y. Jackson as president[7] and organized their first exhibition in January 1921. However, the association only survived for two years, during which time they held only four exhibitions.[8]

The first exhibition of the Beaver Hall Group included works by Mabel Lockerby, Mabel May, Lilias Torrance Newton, and Anne Savage. Sarah Robertson and Nora Collyer joined the group in 1921. Because the association disbanded at a time in history when women were also excluded from social clubs, these six female artists decided to continue with their meetings and soon they were joined by three more female members: Prudence Heward, Kathleen Morris, and Ethel Seath. Emily Coonan was a member of the formal Beaver Hall Group but 'did not mix with the other painters'.[9]

In 1924, the Beaver Hall Group gave up their rented studio but maintained their working studios at home. Many of the women from the Beaver Hall Group exhibited with the all-male Group of Seven, their works exhibited in the United States and England. After the Group of Seven formally disbanded in 1932, in 1933 women from the Beaver Hall Group helped establish the Canadian Group of Painters that organized exhibitions of their works.

In 1966, the National Gallery of Canada organized a travelling exhibition entitled The Beaver Hall Hill Group (an alternate name for the Beaver Hall Group of women painters that is sometimes used). Until that time, the nine women who had continued their informal network after the disbanding of the formal Beaver Hall Group had not had a name for their association.[10]

The Beaver Hall Group in media

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In 1994, filmmaker Pepita Ferrari directed the National Film Board of Canada documentary By Woman's Hand,[11] chronicling the Beaver Hall Hill Group. The film featured three of the most prominent artists from the group: Prudence Heward, Sarah Robertson and Anne Savage.

References

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  1. ^ Meadowcroft, Barbara (1999). Painting friends: the Beaver Hall women painters. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Véhicule Press. p. 175. ISBN 1-55065-125-0.
  2. ^ Walters, Evelyn (2005). The women of Beaver Hall: Canadian modernist painters. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Dundurn Press. p. 16. ISBN 1-55002-588-0.
  3. ^ Meadowcroft, Barbara (1999). Painting friends: the Beaver Hall women painters. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Véhicule Press. p. 15. ISBN 1-55065-125-0.
  4. ^ Walters, Evelyn (2005). The women of Beaver Hall: Canadian modernist painters. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Dundurn Press. p. 13. ISBN 1-55002-588-0.
  5. ^ Meadowcroft, Barbara (1999). Painting friends: the Beaver Hall women painters. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Véhicule Press. p. 60. ISBN 1-55065-125-0.
  6. ^ Meadowcroft, Barbara (1999). Painting friends: the Beaver Hall women painters. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Véhicule Press. p. 62. ISBN 1-55065-125-0.
  7. ^ Meadowcroft, Barbara (1999). Painting friends: the Beaver Hall women painters. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Véhicule Press. p. 60. ISBN 1-55065-125-0.
  8. ^ Walters, Evelyn (2005). The women of Beaver Hall: Canadian modernist painters. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Dundurn Press. pp. 12–13. ISBN 1-55002-588-0.
  9. ^ Meadowcroft, Barbara (1999). Painting friends: the Beaver Hall women painters. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Véhicule Press. p. 65. ISBN 1-55065-125-0.
  10. ^ Meadowcroft, Barbara (1999). Painting friends: the Beaver Hall women painters. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Véhicule Press. p. 66. ISBN 1-55065-125-0.
  11. ^ NFB Collections page

Further reading

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Radeachar/sandbox/Beaver Hall Group.


Category:Canadian artist groups and collectives Category:Canadian women painters Category:Artists from Quebec Category:Anglophone Quebec people Category:Culture of Montreal Category:Cultural history of Canada

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