The introduction of women into the Canadian art scene was a slow process. While men were off openly pursuing careers in painting, women were confined to the home. Even at influential art schools during the nineteenth century, women were not permitted to draw from nude models. Many women faced discrimination in the leading Canadian artists’ associations, where they were denied voting privileges and the right to serve on executive committees. Although these hardships were repeatedly encountered, there remained a few distinctive artists and groups, who broke down the barriers and made it possible for women to be introduced and accepted into the Canadian art scene.

    In art history, as well as the many other texts of today, this argument is well illustrated. For centuries women have fought for equal representation in all aspects of society. Only now is it being realized the extent to which the women’s movement in Canadian art has been overshadowed.

    The title "Group of Seven" remains imbedded in the minds of all Canadians alike. Many remember them as the seven painters who established themselves as being uniquely Canadian in style, setting a trend that would carry on into this century. "The growing impact of the Group's interpretation of the landscape can be felt even today, sometimes to the exclusion of the important movement of portrait and figure painters of the time." (Schwartz) Perhaps even to the exclusion of the women’s movement in Canadian art. All seven of its original members were male. Teachings of their ‘great contributions to Canadian art’ have left many others in the dark. However, there were several painters who flourished simultaneously with the group and deserve "recognition in any account of Canadian art for they were men and women of outstanding artistic independence who provided important inspiration and leadership for young painters." (Herbert, 426) Herbert makes reference to seven artists, only two of them were women: Lilias Newton in Quebec and Emily Carr in British Columbia. This illustration creates a larger picture of the Canadian art scene as a whole; little is known about women artists, but we must not forget that they did exist.

    With the popularity of the camera rising in Canada, portraiture as an art form almost took the back burner, yet some men and women attempted to keep this traditional art form alive by struggling to gain recognition of their work. One of these artists was Lilias Torrance Newton. Born in 1896, she is often called the greatest portraitist of her generation. In 1957 Newton was commissioned to paint portraits of her highness Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. She was an original member of the Canadian Group of Painters (a successor of the Group of Seven) and the Beaver Hall Hill Group.

    Newton’s style has sometimes been referred to as a "psychological statement in visual terms." (Schwartz) If the emotion was not felt by her marks, then the subject spoke with a voice all its own. Dame en noir (see figure 1) illustrates her expertise in portraiture. Dressed in the popular attire of the 1930s, the subject or ‘lady in black’ exhibits an air of elegance. Newton’s brush strokes are light yet defining, and accurately reveal the lines and contours of the subject’s body. Her use of colour is subtle, with dominating hints of green and yellow. From observing this painting, one can almost feel the presence of the lady’s emotions. Newton’s determination, spirit and skill led her to dominate the field of portraiture for nearly three decades. She lived until 1980. (Schwartz)

    One of the most well known female Canadian artists remains to be Emily Carr. Born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1871, Carr was the youngest of five sisters who quickly developed a passion for animals, nature and art. She studied in San Francisco and England, but her creative inspiration continued to lie in the remote villages and totems of the British Columbian north. During her career, Carr all too often faced rejection from the public because her works were ‘too unsophisticated.’ Many of her paintings reveal the style of At Beacon Hill Park. It holds a very unrealistic representation of the trees, mountains and clouds (see figure 2). Their shapes do not depict the traditional earth and sky, as painted by the earlier Impressionists. Carr’s use of colour truly represents the spirit of the subject. Yet at times, along with the shapes, it becomes exaggerated and simplified. "This oil on paper is rich in the variety of brushstroke and the application of paint. These elements combine to give what is essentially a quiet scene the excitement and energy that characterize Carr’s best oil on paper sketches of the mid-thirties." (Emily Carr-Contemporary Artist of the Group of Seven)

    Despite this societal perception, "in 1927 she became the first Canadian woman to achieve national recognition when her work was included in an exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada." (Belton) It was here that she met and quickly became influenced by the members of the Group of Seven. A few years later, she was elected member of the Canadian Group of Painters and was exhibited with several of the Group’s exhibitions. In 1945, Emily Carr died in Vancouver at the age of 74 and remains to be an influential role model in today’s art society. "She received many Canadian and U.S. awards, and her work hangs in many important international public and private collections." (Emily Carr) Oddly enough, her style is now appreciated for its intense energy and shimmering light, those aspects too daring for the audience in her lifetime.

    During the first half of the twentieth century, many women found it increasingly difficult to gain any sort of professional momentum in a "man’s world." But as the opportunities began to unveil themselves, many women rose to the challenge. A shortage of photographs depicting the Canadian contributions to the First World War quickly arose. To solve this problem, the Canadian War Memorial’s Fund was created. In the years of World War I, the entire 116 designated War Artists were men. This almost carried into the Second World War, where of the 31 artists, only one was a woman. Her name was Molly Lamb Bobak.

    Perhaps the earliest of these associations is the Women’s Art Association of Canada. In 1886, this association was merely a group of women in Toronto attempting to organize a self-governing art society. Two years later, the name changed to the Women’s Art Club and in 1892, it became known as the Women’s Art Association of Canada. In 1912 it was incorporated under federal legislation and that became its official name. The group primarily served as an outlet where women could show their art and handicrafts because prior to this, there existed no other outlet. (Creating the Dinner Service: The Women’s Art Association of Canada.)

    Another one of these groups was the short-lived Beaver Hall Hill Group. Established in Montreal, it was named after its studio location: Beaver Hall Hill. Known as one of the two groups of artists formed in Canada during 1920, (the other being the Group of Seven), its members included Prudence Heward, Lilias Torrence Newton, Anne Savage, Sarah Robertson, Emily Coonan, Mabel Lockerby, Henrietta M. May, Edwin Holgate, and Randolph S. Hewton. Social clubs were known to exclude women, but for its members, Beaver Hall was like an exclusive clubhouse. All twenty of the women were also active, exhibiting members of the Canadian Group of Painters. "Yet today, most of their works languish in vaults, are rarely shown and Canadians do not know their names. It seems as if most of them have been wiped off the map of Canadian art history." (Painting Friends: The Beaver Hall Women Painters) This quote best describes collectively, their work and style that made them distinct:

Artistically, the women dealt primarily with portraiture, landscapes, still life, and urban scenes. Stylistically, they demonstrated a restrained form of modernist sensibility in which elements of the natural world were stylized and simplified into broad patterns, differentiated by line and colour. Compared to the more monumental canvasses of the Group of Seven, featuring a remote and unpopulated wilderness, the paintings of the Beaver Hall women are much more modest in scale and tend to humanize the land, usually the Quebec countryside, with clear evidence of human labour and habitation. (Painting Friends: The Beaver Hall Hill Women Artists)

    Although these women aren’t entirely well known, their recognition is beginning to heighten. "The art produced by the women participants in the Beaver Hall Hill Group has become an important area for the study of modern feminist art in Canada." (Beaver Hall Hill) They have illustrated to women painters of yesterday and today, that Canada does have a distinct culture; one that deserves to be recognized and acknowledged.

    This excerpt best describes the reality of the Canadian art scene. "We've privileged male artists in the canon of Canadian art history. Not just Helen McNicoll but other women artists [have been forgotten]. That means they're not written about or exhibited. Their work is not sold, so people tend to dismiss them." (Abma) But this is unjust. Women, or any other artists, who have had such an impact on the lives of people past and present as these artists have, deserve to be recognized. Although women were unappreciated during their careers, the recent establishment of exhibitions, texts and feminist art history courses are preventing this from occurring today. Just because one is a woman, it shouldn’t make her artistic talent any less valuable or desirable to the rest of society.

Abma, Sandra. "Exhibit Highlights Canadian Impressionist Painter."

Belton, Robert J. "Important Moments in the History of Canadian Visual Culture"

Cooper, Miccah B. "Molly Lamb Bobak: War Artist."

"Creating the Dinner Service: The Women’s Art Association of Canada."

"Emily Carr-Contemporary Artist of the Group of Seven."

Herbert, Walter B. Canada: Art and Architecture. Encyclopedia Americana

Vol. 5. Pp. 423-430. Connecticut, 1984.

"Painting Friends: The Beaver Hall Women Painters."

Schwartz, Judi. "Figures and Portraits: The Canadian Identity."

"Virtual Gallery: Lilias Torrance Newton."