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 well as for its embrace of Jazz Age modernism. They painted a variety of subjects, including portraits, landscapes, urban scenes and still lifes, in a mix of Modernist and traditional styles.

Members

The ten female artists who were part of the Beaver Hall Group are:

  • Nora Collyer
  • Emily Coonan
  • Prudence Heward (Although she never showed in any of the group's exhibitions and was not an official member, she was allied with them in her aesthetic aims and through friendships, including with Mabel Lockerby and Sarah Robertson.)
  • Mabel Lockerby
  • Mabel May
  • Kathleen Morris
  • Lilias Torrance Newton
  • Sarah Robertson
  • Anne Savage
  • Ethel Seath

All ten of the group's participants had studied with 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. Importantly, they not only painted but also exhibited and sold their work. Most of the women affiliated with the Beaver Hall Group chose to remain unmarried.

However, a touring exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts titled 1920s Modernism in Montreal: The Beaver Hall Group, in 2015, co-curated by Brian Foss and Jacques Des Rochers, has changed the perception of the group to a new realization of the group's activities and all its artist members or those who were closely associated with the group.

History

The group was formally founded in May 1920, inaugurated through the efforts of Randolph Stanley Hewton, Edwin Holgate, Mabel May and Lilias Torrance Newton. The group's name derives from 305 Beaver Hall Hill, the location of the downtown Montreal studio where its members shared space. It counted among the founding members eleven men and eight women. In addition to Hewton, Holgate, May and Newton, original members included Mabel Lockerby, Anne Savage, Albert H. Robinson and President of the group, A.Y. Jackson.

The first Beaver Hall exhibition took place January 17, 1921. In his opening speech, Jackson emphasized the right of the artist to paint what they feel "with utter disregard for what

has hitherto been considered requisite to the acceptance of the work at the recognized art exhibitions in Canadian centres. 'Schools' and 'isms' do not trouble us," Jackson stressed, "individual expression is our chief concern".

The association only survived for three years, during which time they held only four exhibitions with many different artists exhibiting among them. 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 internationally. When the Group of Seven formally disbanded in 1932, the women of the Beaver Hall Group helped establish the Canadian Group of Painters in 1933, to provide exhibition opportunities. Nevertheless, Group artists maintained an informal association into the early 1960s.

References

Further reading

  • Des Rochers, Jacques and Brian Foss (2015). The Beaver Hall Group: 1920s Modernism in Montreal. Black Dog Publishing.
  • Meadowcroft, Barbara (1999). Painting friends: the Beaver Hall women painters. Véhicule Press.
  • Prakash, A. K. (2008). Independent Spirit: Early Canadian Women Artists. Firefly Books.
  • Skelly, Julia (2015). Prudence Heward: Life & Work. Art Canada Institute.
  • Walters, Evelyn (2017). The Beaver Hall Group and Its Legacy, Dundurn Press,
  • Pepita Ferrari (1994). By Woman's Hand, produced by the National Film Board of Canada. This documentary chronicles the Beaver Hall Hill Group, featuring Prudence Heward, Sarah Robertson and Anne Savage.
  • NFB Collections page
  • The Beaver Hall Exhibition. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.