Synopses & Reviews
The Beaver Hall Group: 1920s Modernity portrays the work of the Montreal-based group of Canadian painters, the Beaver Hall Group. This twentieth-century collective, founded in response to the all-male Group of Seven, was long overlooked by critics and historians alike, but today counts many of its members amongst the most sought-after Canadian painters.
Using the group as a starting point, the book launches into investigations into such wide-reaching topics as the metropolis and modernity, juxtapositions between economic progress and cultural development a social equality, and the role of gender in approaches to artists and their work.
Divided into three sections, The Beaver Hall Group: 1920s Modernity comprises several contextual essays, beginning with the history of Beaver Hall Hill and the influence of its location in the city of Montreal. The reader is then taken through the progress of the Beaver Hall Group and the central part they played within modernity in Canada. Through an examination of documented exhibitions, press coverage, photographs and key works from the period, we can gain insight into the reach of the group by concentrating on 30 established artists including Mabel May, Barbara Meadowcroft, Emily Coonan and Kathleen Morris. This unique exposand#233; of the group is explored against the backdrop of Montrealand#8217;s cultural scene in the 1920s, and how the collective crossed artistic disciplines, placing the group within a broader context of the arts.
The Beaver Hall Group: 1920s Modernity is co-published with Montreal Museum of Fine Art, coinciding with a major exhibition at the museum.
Synopsis
Taking their name from the downtown street in Montreal where members shared a studio in the early 1920s, The Beaver Hall Group were early adopters of new modernistic approaches to painting and explored their potential within a variety of genres, including portrait, still life, landscape and prescient scenes of urbanity. As well as providing an artistic window into the modern lives of Canadians during this transformational period of history, as a collective The Beaver Hall Group are exceptional for their inclusion of female artists as core members. Initially comprising of both genders, the group would become an all-female collective that includes some of Canada's most celebrated modern painters.
Through a series of comprehensive contextual essays The Beaver Hall Group: 1920s Modernism in Montreal interweaves the work of this pioneering artistic collective within a broader narrative of the arts in the first half of the twentieth century. Exploring the groups' greater role in the modernity of Canada--and more specifically the cultural context of Montreal--the book takes on core themes such as the rise of the metropolis, juxtapositions between economic progress and cultural development, and the impact of gender on critical approaches to both artists and their work.
The Beaver Hall Group: 1920s Modernism in Montreal sits alongside a major exhibition and is published in partnership with the Montreal Museum of Fine Art.
About the Author
Jacques Des Rochers: Curator of Quebec and Canadian Art at Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Brian Foss: Brian Foss is a writer, curator and Director of the School for Studies in Art and Culture at Carleton University. He chairs the Advisory Board of the Journal of Canadian Art History and is co-editor of RACAR: Revue dand#8217;art canadien / Canadian Art Review.
Kristina Huneault: Kristina Huneault holds a Concordia University Research Chair in art history. She is a founder of the Canadian Women Artists History Initiative, and the 2010 recipient of the Marion Dewar Prize in Canadian Women's History.
Helene Sicotte: Professor and researcher at Universitand#233; du Quand#233;bec and#224; Montrand#233;al.
Esther Trand#233;panier: Professor in art history at the University of Quebec at Montreal.