A Short History of Art in Hamilton

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A Short History of Art in Hamilton

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A Short History of Art in Hamilton

Image of a photo of the Birk's Building, Hamilton

Hamilton Art School 1886 to 1890

Canada Life Building (Birks Building)

Originally located in the Hamilton Provident and Loan Building, with Ida Banting as the school's first principal, the Hamilton Art School found a permanent home in the Canada Life Building in October of 1886.

Though now gone for decades, this building can still be recalled by many present-day Hamiltonians as the old Birk's building.

John Ireland was appointed the first head of the school after emigrating from England to take up the position in 1886. He was instructor to many of Hamilton's young artists, including J.E.H MacDonald who would go on to become a member of the Group of Seven.

The school, like similiar institutions of the day, was modelled after the Royal School of Art in South Kensington, which had begun focusing on a national system of art training in 1853. John Ireland was an instructor at the RSA and bought to his new position the emphasizes of teaching practical skills of draughtsmanship and design. Artists were trained to produce designs for manufacturing or for careers as public school art teachers.One of eight municipal art schools in Ontario at that time, the Hamilton Art School operated under the Ontario Department of Education and was funded by the city of Hamilton and private subscription.

Hamilton Art School 1890 to 1909

2nd floor, Hamilton Public Library

"The Hamilton Art School was solely responsible for what might fairly be termed an 'awakening' in the cultural history of Hamilton. Throughout its period of province-wide ascendancy,1886 to 1909, the school produced a significant number of first-class artists who went on to attain great distinction in Canadian art." In 1903 John Ireland was replaced by American artist, Harry Neyland as head of the school.

Stuart MacCuaig

Climbing the Cold White Peaks: A survey of artists in and from Hamilton 1910 - 1950

Hamilton Collegiate Institute

In 1909, John Gordon succeeded Harry Neyland as the new principal of the Hamilton Art school, and agreed to amalgamation of the school with the Board of Education's technical school which had recently opened in a wing of the Hamilton Collegiate Institute. It occupied one wing of the huge institute which was bound by the streets of Stinson, West, Hunter and Victoria. This new institute was named the Hamilton and Technical Art School. By 1919 enrollment had increased to the point that the technical portion of the school including the arts was relocated to its own building on Wentworth Street. North. It was renamed the Hamilton Technical Institute in 1923.

Notable Hamilton Art School Instructors

Ida Banting (1862 -) - First Principal (1885 - 1886)

Viola Depew (1894 - 1992) - First Art Supervisor for the City of Hamilton

Elinor Fiennes-Clinton (1887 - 1976)

Hortense Mattice Gordon (1886 - 1961)

John Sloan Gordon (1868 - 1940) - Principal, Hamilton School of Art, 1909 - 1932

Ida Hamilton (1887 - 1974)

Arthur Heming (1870 - 1940)

Leonard Hutchinson (1896 - 1980) - Instructor, 1932 - 1942

John Ireland - Principal

Laura Muntz Lyall (1860 - 1930)

Marion Eve Mattice (1878 - 1956)

Harry A. Neyland (1877 - 1958) - Principal, Hamilton School of Art

Julian R. Seavey (1857 - 1940) - Head of Art Department, Hamilton Normal School 1908 - 1931

John Sloan (1891 - 1970)

Albert Henry Robinson (1881 - 1956)

George Wallace (1920 - 2009)

Jean Wishart (1902 - 1991)

Women's Art Association of Hamilton

The WAAH was formed in 1894 by founding members Sara Galbraith Calder, Clara Galbreaith, Florence Birely, Mrs. A.T. Freed, Aleda Burns and Mrs. Roland Hills. The WAAH is Hamilton's oldest continuous arts organization and is, to this day still a dominant force in the cultural fabric of Hamilton.

The Cabot Memorial Commemorative State Service

In 1897 the Women's Art Association of Canada proposed to mark the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's discovery of Canada by commissioning a hand-painted State Dinner Service for the Governor General's residence in Ottawa. Of the sixteen Canadian women artists chosen, two were members of the Women's Art Association of Hamilton, Claria E. Galbreaith and Alice M. Judd. Each of the sixteen artists painted twelve pieces of the service with depictions of Canadian historical moments, scenery or flora and fauna.

In 1898 after the finished service had been exhibited publicly in a number of different locations, it was presented to Lady Aberdeen whose husband the Earl of Aberdeen was about to end his term as Governor General of Canada. Thus the dinner service remains to this day at Haddo House, a Scottish National Trust property once the residence of Lady Aberdeen.

Twelve soup plates were painted by Clara Galbreaith and each depicts an historical landscape of Canada.

Twelve dessert plates were painted by Alice Judd each with a different wild or cultivated fruit of Canada.

The Cabot Memoral Commemorative State Dinner Service

Hamilton Art School and The Group of Seven

"...Hamilton, and the Hamilton Art School in particular, played an early and important role in some of the lives of the Group's members. J.E.H. MacDonald, a founding member of the Group of Seven, received a significant portion of his art training at the Hamilton Art School. A.J. Casson, a later member of the group, spent most of his early years in Hamilton working in a commercial art company and studying art on weekends at the Hamilton Art School. Albert Robertson, a contemporary of the Group, was a native Hamiltonian and taught at the Art School here from 1905 to 1908. The influence of the Group of Seven on Hamilton artists of the 1920's and '30's was immense..."

Stuart MacCuaig

Climbing the Cold White Peaks: A Survey of artists in and from Hamilton 1910 -1950

Commercial Arts in Hamilton and the Artist's Union

"The Depression awakened workers to the fact that they had little or no control over the economic forces that influenced their lives. The realization was not confined to factory workers; artists, commercial artists in particular, turned to unionism in the hope of securing certain important goals."

In 1936 the first Artists' Union in Canada was organized in Toronto and by 1937 Leonard Hutchinson with assistance formed the Hamilton local.

"In Hamilton, as in Toronto, the membership was comprised almost entirely of commercial artists."

Stuart MacCuaig

Climbing the Cold White Peaks: A survey of artists in and from Hamilton 1910 - 1950

Vida Peene

Vida H. Peene (1898-1978), patron of the arts, was born in Hamilton, Ontario. A graduate of the University of Toronto and the Ontario College of Art, Peene was a patron and supporter of the arts throughout her life. During World War II she was Commandant of the Food Administration Section of the Red Cross Corps, Toronto Detachment, and actively promoted and raised funds for the arts in general.

After the war, Peene served on numerous cultural organizations at the executive level. She was director of the National Ballet of Canada (1955-1958), an original member of the Canada Council (1957-1961), president of the Dominion Drama Festival (1962-1964), director of the Canadian Music Centre (1964-1970), and a member of the executive committee of the Canadian Conference of the Arts (1960-1968).

In 1964, she received the Civic Award of Merit for distinguished services to the City of Toronto and the Central Drama League Award. She was the first person in Canada to represent the arts in all three levels of government. Peene was awarded the Centennial Medal in 1967 and the Order of Canada in 1970; from 1968 to 1970 she was appointed by the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto Council to the Board of Management of the O'Keefe Centre. [From the Ontario Arts Council website.]

Hamilton Illustrators

Many of the artists and illustrators that lived in Hamilton found work at one of any number of printing houses or commerical art firms that existed at the time. Companies like 'Davis and Lisson', 'Central Press', 'Laidlaw Lithographing Company', 'Commercial Engravers', 'Griffin and Richmond' and others were the training ground for many artists, commerical artists and illustrators.

"Hamilton has produced a significant number of nationally and internationally renowned commercial illustrators."

Arthur William Brown (1881 - 1966)

Ralph Entwistle (n.d. -1985)

John Sloan Gordon (1868 - 1940)

J.S. Hallam (1899 - 1953)

Arthur Heming ( 1870 - 1940)

Benjamin S. Cory Kilvert (1879 - 1946)

J. Fergus Kyle (1876 - 1941)

Owen Poe Staples (1866 - 1949)

John S. Sweet

Anna Ottilie Palm-Jost (1876 - 1961)

William Taylor (1883 - 1970)