Beaver Hall Group facts for kids

The Beaver Hall Group was a group of Montreal-based Canadian painters. They met in the late 1910s while studying art. Their school was run by the Art Association of Montreal.

This group was special because it included both men and women artists equally. They also liked the new, modern art styles of the Jazz Age. They painted many different things, like people's faces (portraits), outdoor scenes (landscapes), city views, and still lifes (objects arranged together). They used a mix of Modernist and older painting styles.

Artists of the Group

The Beaver Hall Group had many talented artists. Ten women artists were part of this group:

• Nora Collyer
• Emily Coonan
• Prudence Heward (She was not an official member but shared similar art goals and was friends with some members.)
• Mabel Lockerby
• Mabel May
• Kathleen Morris
• Lilias Torrance Newton
• Sarah Robertson
• Anne Savage
• Ethel Seath

All these artists had a teacher named William Brymner. He was a well-known Canadian artist. Brymner encouraged them to try new, modern ways of painting. At that time, many people thought women artists were just doing a hobby. They were often left out of the professional art world. But the Beaver Hall Group was the first Canadian art group where women played a very important role. They not only painted but also showed and sold their artwork. Many of the women in the Beaver Hall Group chose not to get married.

In 2015, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts held a special art show. It was called 1920s Modernism in Montreal: The Beaver Hall Group. This show helped people understand more about the group's activities. It also showed that many artists, both men and women, were part of or connected to the group.

History of the Group

The Beaver Hall Group officially started in May 1920. It was created thanks to Randolph Stanley Hewton, Edwin Holgate, Mabel May, and Lilias Torrance Newton. The group got its name from their shared studio. It was located at 305 Beaver Hall Hill in downtown Montreal. When the group started, it had eleven men and eight women as founding members. Besides the four people who started it, other original members included Mabel Lockerby, Anne Savage, Albert H. Robinson, and the group's President, A.Y. Jackson.

First Art Show

The first Beaver Hall exhibition happened on January 17, 1921. At the opening, Jackson gave a speech. He said that artists should be free to paint what they feel. He stressed that they should not worry about what was usually accepted in art shows. Jackson said, "Different 'schools' or 'styles' don't bother us." He added that "individual expression is our main goal."

Jackson also said that the Beaver Hall Group had similar goals to the Group of Seven. The Group of Seven was another famous Canadian art group based in Toronto. Jackson kept in touch with the Montreal artists. He visited them often and wrote letters to support their work. He told them about art events in Toronto. He also helped their paintings be shown in Group of Seven exhibitions. Both the Montreal Gazette and La Presse newspapers wrote a lot about the opening of their first show.

Later Years

The Beaver Hall Group only lasted for three years as a formal association. During that time, they held four exhibitions. Many different artists showed their work in these shows. In 1924, the Beaver Hall Group gave up their shared studio. However, the artists continued to work in their own home studios.

Many of the women from the Beaver Hall Group showed their art with the all-male Group of Seven in other countries. When the Group of Seven officially ended in 1932, the women of the Beaver Hall Group helped start a new group. This was the Canadian Group of Painters in 1933. This new group helped artists find more chances to show their work. Even though the formal group ended, the artists stayed connected informally until the early 1960s.

Understanding the Group Today

Today, many people think of the Beaver Hall Group as a group of women painters from Montreal. This idea started with an art show in 1966. It was organized by Nora McCullough from the National Gallery of Canada. She wanted to show the talent of women artists from Quebec to western Canada. Before this, the ten women who stayed connected after the group ended didn't have a name for their informal network.

Anne Savage and A.Y. Jackson told Nora McCullough about the original Beaver Hall Group. The name of the group somehow got mixed up with the name of the street. That's how the exhibition got its name, "The Beaver Hall Hill Group."

More recently, art experts have found a new side to Canadian modern art in the Beaver Hall Group. The Group of Seven, based in Toronto, often painted wild Canadian landscapes. But the Montreal Beaver Hall painters focused on city life. They painted factories, fashion, and scenes from the city.

Brian Foss, a co-curator of the 2015 exhibition, said something important. He mentioned that the Group of Seven was very important, but it wasn't the only modern art in Canada. He hoped visitors would be amazed by the art's energy, variety, and quality. He wanted them to appreciate how much Montreal artists added to modern art in Canada.