My sincere thanks to Mark Cheetham and to Sara Angel, for the opportunity to work on this project and to consider Carr’s legacy for new readers. My deepest gratitude to the fleet of Carr specialists, whose dedication to Carr and research before me has provided such support to my own project, especially to Gerta Moray, Ian Thom, Charles Hill, Kathryn Bridge, Peter Macnair, Jay Stewart, Johanne Lamoureux, Marcia Crosby, and the legacy of Doris Shadbolt. Warm appreciation is also reserved for Joan Borsa, Marianne Nicolson, and Mary Kavanagh for our conversations about Carr, insight, and encouragement. I am also very grateful to my editors, Rosemary Shipton and Meg Taylor, for their hard work and many discussions throughout.
From the Art Canada Institute
This online art book was made possible thanks to BMO Financial Group, Lead Sponsor for the Canadian Online Art Book Project; and the Audain Foundation, Title Sponsor for Emily Carr: Life & Work. The Art Canada Institute gratefully acknowledges the other sponsors for the 2014–15 Season: Aimia; Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc.; The Hal Jackman Foundation; Phyllis Lambert; TD Bank Group; the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts; and the Harold Town Estate.
Thanks also to the Art Canada Institute Founding Patrons: Sara and Michael Angel, Jalynn H. Bennett, The Butterfield Family Foundation, David and Vivian Campbell, Albert E. Cummings, Kiki and Ian Delaney, The Fleck Family, Roger and Kevin Garland, Michelle Koerner and Kevin Doyle, Phil Lind, Sarah and Tom Milroy, Charles Pachter, Gerald Sheff and Shanitha Kachan, Sandra L. Simpson, and Robin and David Young; as well as its Founding Partner Patrons: The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and Partners in Art.
The ACI gratefully acknowledges the support and assistance of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (Michelle Jacques and Stephen Topfer), the Art Gallery of Hamilton (Christine Braun), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Jim Shedden and Ebony Jansen), the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (Geoffrey Heath), the Audain Art Museum (Barbara Binns), The Fergusson Gallery (Amy Waugh), the Jeff Wall Studio, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Janine Butler and Ki-in Wong), the National Gallery of Canada (Kristin Rothschild and Raven Amiro), the Royal British Columbia Museum (Kathryn Bridge and Kelly-Ann Turkington), the Seattle Art Museum (Matt Empson), the University of Toronto (Heather Pigat and Daniella Sanader), and the Vancouver Art Gallery (Danielle Currie).
Image Sources
Every effort has been made to secure permissions for all copyrighted material. The Art Canada Institute will gladly correct any errors or omissions.
Credits for Banner Images
Biography: Emily Carr in San Francisco at age twenty-two, c. 1893. British Columbia Archives Collection, Royal B.C. Museum Corporation, Victoria (H-02813).
Key Works: Emily Carr, Totem Walk at Sitka, 1907. (See below for details.)
Significance & Critical Issues: Emily Carr, Odds and Ends, 1939. (See below for details.)
Style & Technique: Emily Carr, Autumn in France, 1911. (See below for details.)
Sources & Resources: Emily Carr in Her Studio, 1939, photograph by Harold Mortimer-Lamb. (See below for details.)
Where to See: Installation view of Exhibition of West Coast Art: Native and Modern, National Gallery of Canada, 1927. (See below for details.)
Credits for Works by Emily Carr
Above the Gravel Pit, 1937. Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Emily Carr Trust, VAG 42.3.30. Photograph by Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery.
Alaska Journal, 1907, detail of page 19. Private collection.
Alaska Journal, 1907, detail of page 35. Private collection.
Autumn in France, 1911. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.
Beacon Hill Park, 1909. Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Bell, c. 1927. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, gift of Margot Johnston, Ottawa, 1998.
Big Eagle, Skidigate, B.C., 1929. Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Big Raven, 1931. Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Emily Carr Trust, VAG 42.3.11. Photograph by Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery.
Blue Sky, 1936. Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Blunden Harbour, c. 1930. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.
Breton Farm Yard, c. 1911. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, gift of F. Joy Peinhof-Wright.
Le paysage (Brittany Landscape), 1911. Private collection.
Chrysanthemums, c. 1900. Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver Art Gallery Acquisition Fund, VAG 88.11.
The Crazy Stair, c. 1928–30, Audain Art Museum, Whistler.
Cumshewa, 1912. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.
Dancing Sunlight, c. 1937. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, purchase 1978.
Emily’s Old Barn Studio, c. 1891. British Columbia Archives, Victoria.
Forest, British Columbia, 1931–32. Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Emily Carr Trust, VAG 42.3.9. Photograph by Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery.
French Knitter (La Bretonne), 1911. Private collection.
Grey, 1929–30. Private collection.
Grizzly Bear Totem, Angidah, Nass River, c. 1930. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, gift of Mr. and Mrs. C.S. Band, Toronto, 1968.
Church in Yuquot Village, 1929. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, bequest of Charles S. Band, Toronto, 1970.
Loggers’ Culls, 1935. Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, gift of Miss I. Parkyn, VAG 39.1. Photograph by Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery.
Lower Portion of D’Sonoqua Pole, c. 1928. British Columbia Archives, Victoria.
Odds and Ends, 1939. Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Potlatch Figure (Mimquimlees), 1912. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.
Scorned as Timber, Beloved of the Sky, 1935. Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Emily Carr Trust, VAG 42.3.15. Photograph by Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery.
Self-Portrait, 1938–39. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, gift of Peter Bronfman, 1990.
Shoreline, 1936. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, gift of Mrs. H.P. de Pencier.
Sketchbook for Pause, 1903, detail of page 3. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, gift of Dr. Jack Parnell.
Sketchbook for Pause, 1903, detail of page 9. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, gift of Dr. Jack Parnell.
Sombreness Sunlit, c. 1938–40. British Columbia Archives, Victoria.
Sunshine and Tumult, 1938–39. Art Gallery of Hamilton, bequest of H.S. Southam, CMG, LL.D, 1966. Photograph by Mike Lalich.
A Study in Evolution, 1902. British Columbia Archives, Victoria.
Tanoo, Q.C.I., 1913. British Columbia Archives, Victoria.
Totem Mother, Kitwancool, 1928. Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Emily Carr Trust, VAG 42.3.20. Photograph by Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery.
Totem Poles, Kitseukla, 1912. Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Founders’ Fund, VAG 37.2. Photograph by Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery.
Totem Walk at Sitka, 1907. Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Tree Trunk, 1931. Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Emily Carr Trust, VAG 42.3.2. Photograph by Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery.
Trees in France, c. 1911. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, gift of Dr. Max Stern, Dominion Gallery, Montreal.
Vanquished, 1930. Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Emily Carr Trust, VAG 42.3.6. Photograph by Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery.
Yan, Q.C.I., 1912. Art Gallery of Hamilton, gift of Roy G. Cole, 1992. Photograph by Mike Lalich.
War Canoes, Alert Bay, 1912, Audain Art Museum, Whistler.
Zunoqua of the Cat Village, 1931. Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Emily Carr Trust, VAG 42.3.21. Photograph by Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery.
Credits for Photographs and Works by Other Artists
Bathers, n.d, by Harry Phelan Gibb. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Lucy Carrington Wertheim, 1948.
Boats by the Harbour Wall, c. 1910, by Frances Hodgkins. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
Carr and her caravan, “the Elephant,” 1934, photograph by Mrs. S.F. Morley. British Columbia Archives Collection, Royal B.C. Museum Corporation, Victoria (D-03844).
The Carr family residence, c. 1869. British Columbia Archives Collection, Royal B.C. Museum Corporation, Victoria (C-03805).
Carr on a picnic with two women and her dog Billie, Queen Charlotte Islands, 1912. British Columbia Archives collection, Royal B.C. Museum Corporation, Victoria (F-07756).
Carr on horseback, Cariboo Regional District, B.C., c. 1909. Private collection.
Carr on the beach on Tanoo, 1912. British Columbia Archives Collection, Royal B.C. Museum Corporation, Victoria (F-00254).
Carr with her pets, in the garden of her home, Victoria, 1918. British Columbia Archives Collection, Royal B.C. Museum Corporation, Victoria (HP51747).
Church and grounds at Yuquot (Friendly Cove). British Columbia Archives Collection, Royal B.C. Museum Corporation, Victoria (A-06087).
Cover of The Book of Small by Emily Carr (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1942).
Cover of Emily Carr: A Biography by Maria Tippett (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1979).
Cover of the catalogue for Exhibition of Canadian West Coast Art: Native and Modern, designed by Emily Carr. (National Gallery of Canada, 1927).
Cover of Klee Wyck by Emily Carr (Toronto: Farrar & Rinehart, 1941).
Cover of Hundreds and Thousands by Emily Carr (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1966).
Emily Carr and the Group of Seven, c. 1927, by Arthur Lismer. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, gift of The Robert and Signe McMichael Trust (2011.2.24).
Emily Carr in Her Studio, 1939, by Harold Mortimer-Lamb. Modern print from original negative. Vancouver Art Gallery, gift of Claudia Beck and Andrew Gruft.
Totem Poles and Houses of the Kaigani Haidas at Old Kasaan, Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, c. 1903, by Theodore J. Richardson. Library and Archives Canada.
Fieldwork: Excavation of the floor of a dwelling in a former Sto:lo nation village, Greenwood Island Hope, British Columbia, August 2003. Anthony Graesch, Department of Anthropology, University of California at Los Angeles, working with Riley Lewis of the Sto:lo band, 2003, by Jeff Wall. Courtesy of the artist.
Installation view of four of the seven paintings by Carr exhibited at Documenta 13, 2012. Photograph by Anders Sune Berg.
Isolation Peak, Rocky Mountains, 1930, by Lawren Harris. Hart House, University of Toronto.
Lawren Harris and Ira Dilworth at the Vancouver Art Gallery, 1951. Vancouver Art Gallery.
Logging in British Columbia; clearcut, mill, and dock, photograph by H.W. Roozeboom. British Columbia Archives Collection, Royal B.C. Museum Corporation, Victoria (D-05018).
Moving Forms, 1930, by Mark Tobey. Seattle Art Museum, Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection.
People and Sails at Royan, 1910, by John Duncan Fergusson. The Fergusson Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council, Scotland.
Regalia confiscated from Dan Cranmer’s potlatch held in the village of ’Mimkwamlis in 1921. British Columbia Archives Collection, Royal B.C. Museum Corporation, Victoria.
Review of Exhibition of West Coast Art: Native and Modern, “Some Ladies Prefer Indians,” by Muriel Brewster (Muriel Bruce), Toronto Star Weekly, January 21, 1928. Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Marius Barbeau fonds, file B290-2.1.001.
Sitka + Surroundings—Totem Poles in Forest, c. 1918, by Louis Shotridge. University of Pennsylvania Museum, 15178.
Still from the short film Bone Wind Fire (2011), directed by Jill Sharpe. National Film Board.
Students painting from life at the art school in St. Ives, c. 1905. British Columbia Archives Collection, Royal B.C. Museum Corporation, Victoria (I-68874).
Studio portrait of Carr and her sisters, c. 1895. British Columbia Archives Collection, Royal B.C. Museum Corporation, Victoria (A-02037).
Studio portrait of Carr’s parents, c. 1876. British Columbia Archives Collection, Royal B.C. Museum Corporation, Victoria (A-09184).
Totem poles at Blunden Harbour, c. 1901, photograph by Dr. Charles Frederick Newcombe. British Columbia Archives collection, Royal B.C. Museum Corporation, Victoria (A-09132).
Waterfall, Agawa River, Algoma, by J.E.H. MacDonald. Art Gallery of Ontario, purchase, 1933.
Art Canada Institute
Massey College, University of Toronto
4 Devonshire Place
Toronto, ON M5S 2E1
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Baldissera, Lisa, 1966-, author
Emily Carr : life & work / Lisa Baldissera.
Includes bibliographical references.
Contents: Biography — Key works — Significance & critical issues — Style & technique — Sources & resources — Where to see.
Electronic monograph.
ISBN 978-1-4871-0046-9 (pdf).—ISBN 978-1-4871-0048-3 (epub)
1. Carr, Emily, 1871-1945. 2. Carr, Emily, 1871-1945—Criticism and interpretation. 3. Painters—Canada—Biography. I. Art Canada Institute, issuing body II. Title.
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