Leading the Way: Early Canadian Women Artists

From the collections of the McIntosh Art Gallery and the Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery.
November 4, 2016 to February 12, 2017 - Now Extended until the 20th!

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, women artists encountered many obstacles in the pursuit of their artistic careers. Marriage and family responsibilities, limited educational and professional opportunities and, in some cases, the requirement to be self-supporting all challenged their creative practices. As a result, they frequently chose subjects from personal experience such as landscape, portraiture, and still life. Consequently, their work was considered outside mainstream trends and attracted little attention.

This exhibition features early Canadian women artists from the McIntosh Gallery collection. Some, like Florence Carlyle, enjoyed national and international careers while others, such as Mackie Cryderman and Henrietta Hancock Britton, were also pioneering art educators who influenced subsequent generations. The exhibition also features a selection from the JNAAG collection, including Florence Wyle who was regarded as one of the finest figurative sculptors in Canada of her time, and Pegi Nicol McLeod whose paintings helped form the first wave of Canadian modernism. All of them persevered against prevailing restrictions to build a lasting legacy of visual creativity.

Curated by Catherine Elliot Shaw and Lisa Daniels.

First Friday Opening
Friday, November 4
6:00pm

Members Opening Reception
Friday, November 4
7:00pm

Curator Talk
Thursday, February 2
7:00pm