From the Author
My deepest gratitude to Joyce Zemans, whose pioneering work on Munn has made study of this artist possible, and to Munn’s family for their generosity and candour. Many thanks to Mark Cheetham, Sarah Brohman, Meg Taylor, Ruth Gaskill, and all the ACI staff for their dedicated editorial attention. Special thanks to Sara Angel, David Urban, and Ihor Holubizky for liking to talk about Munn almost as much as I do.
From the Art Canada Institute
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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 Munn estate, in particular Wayne Richards and Lenore Richards, as well as the Art Gallery of Ontario, in particular Jim Shedden, Manager of Publishing, and Matthew Teitelbaum, the Michael and Sonja Koerner Director, and CEO.
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: Munn in the Catskills, c. 1928. (See below for details.)
Key Works: Kathleen Munn, Untitled (Cows on a Hillside), c. 1916. (See below for details.)
Significance & Critical Issues: Working drawing for the Passion series, c. 1927–38, graphite on paper. Kathleen Munn fonds, E.P. Taylor Research Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, gift of Lenore Richards, 2005. Photograph by Craig Boyko, AGO.
Style & Technique: Kathleen Munn, Composition (Horses), c. 1927. (See below for details.)
Sources & Resources: Notebook, “Synchromism.” Kathleen Munn fonds, E.P. Taylor Research Library and Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, gift of Lenore Richards, 2005. Photograph by Craig Boyko, AGO.
Where to See: Installation view of Munn exhibition in 2008, Art Gallery of Windsor. (See below for details.)
Credits for Works by Kathleen Munn
Composition (Horses), c. 1927. Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, purchased with funds donated by the Women’s Society of the Edmonton Art Gallery.
Composition (Reclining Nude), c. 1926–28. Collection of Lynn and Ken Martens, Calgary.
The Dance, c. 1923. Collection of Lenore Richards, Toronto.
Descent from the Cross, c. 1934–35. Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, gift of Isabel McLaughlin, 1993.
Last Supper, 1938. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, purchased 1945.
Mother and Child, c. 1930. Art Gallery of Hamilton, gift of Yvonne McKague Housser, 1971.
Still Life, c. 1925. Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, purchased with funds from the Art Associates of the Edmonton Art Gallery, 1989.
Untitled (Boxers), c. 1925. Collection of Bernard and Sylvia Ostry, promised gift to the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Untitled (Cows on a Hillside), c. 1916. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, purchased with funds donated by Susan and Greg Latremoille, Toronto, 2006.
Untitled (Crucifixion), c. 1927–28. Collection of Wayne Richards. Photograph by Kayla Rocca.
Untitled (Deposition), c. 1926–28. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchased 1990.
Untitled (Descent from the Cross), c. 1927. Collection of Vincent Tovell, Toronto.
Untitled (Figure in a Landscape), c. 1928–30. Collection of Bernard and Sylvia Ostry, promised gift to the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Untitled (Four Figures in the Woods), c. 1928–30. Collection of Diane/Evelyn Richards.
Untitled (Nude in Forest), c. 1923. Collection of Bernard and Sylvia Ostry, promised gift to the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Untitled (Study of Cows), c. 1910. Collection of Lenore Richards, Toronto.
Untitled (Two Nudes in a Landscape), c. 1928–30. Collection of Wayne Richards, Toronto. Photograph by Kayla Rocca.
Untitled I, c. 1926–28. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchased 1990.
Untitled II, c. 1926–28. Collection Lavalin, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal.
Working drawing for the Passion series, “Crucified Figure,” c. 1927–38 (left to right: recto; verso; recto & verso combined, as seen through the light box). Kathleen Munn fonds, E.P. Taylor Research Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, gift of Lenore Richards, 2005. Photograph by Craig Boyko, AGO.
Credits for Photographs and Works by Other Artists
Both Members of This Club, 1909, by George Bellows. Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1944.13.1.
A Breezy Day, 1903, by Farquhar McGillivray Knowles. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, gift of North American Life Assurance Company, Toronto, 1996.
Dance (I), 1909, by Henri Matisse. Museum of Modern Art, New York, INV. Nr. 201.1963.
Descent from the Cross, c. 1435, by Rogier van der Weyden. Museo del Prado, Madrid.
The Dream, 1912, by Franz Marc. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, INV. Nr. 660 (1978.15).
The Dying Slave, c. 1513–15, by Michelangelo. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
Historical photograph of the Art Students League. Art Students League of New York. Photographer unknown.
The Horse in Motion: “Sallie Gardner,” Owned by Leland Stanford, c. 1878, by Eadweard Muybridge. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.
Illustration of the whirling square, from The Elements of Dynamic Symmetry by Jay Hambidge (New York: Brentano’s, 1926).
Installation view of Munn exhibition in 2008, Art Gallery of Windsor. Photographer unknown.
Installation view of Passion series in 2011, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Image provided and reproduced courtesy of the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Kathleen Munn was featured in Yearbook of the Arts in Canada, 1928–1929, edited by Bertram Brooker. Photograph by Lindsay Maynard.
Kathleen Munn’s notebooks. Kathleen Munn fonds, E.P. Taylor Research Library and Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, gift of Lenore Richards, 2005. Photograph by Georgiana Uhlyarik.
Kathleen Munn’s notes on Jay Hambidge’s theory of dynamic symmetry. Kathleen Munn fonds, E.P. Taylor Research Library and Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, gift of Lenore Richards, 2005. Photograph by Craig Boyko, AGO.
Kathleen Munn’s paintbox, with compass set at top right. Private collection, promised gift to the E.P. Taylor Research Library and Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Photograph by Craig Boyko, AGO.
Munn in the Catskills, c. 1928. Collection of Lenore Richards. Photographer unknown.
Munn in her Toronto studio in the 1930s. Collection unknown. Photographer unknown.
Munn’s light box. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Photograph by Craig Boyko, AGO.
The 1988 catalogue for the touring exhibition that established Munn’s role in the development of modern art in Canada. Cover of the exhibition catalogue Kathleen Munn, Edna Taçon: New Perspectives on Modernism in Canada by Joyce Zemans, Elizabeth Burrell, and Elizabeth Hunter (Toronto: Art Gallery of York University, 1988).
On an envelope dated May 28, 1974, Kathleen Munn listed “some of the things I did right and… my present thinking.” Munn family papers, Toronto. Photograph by Craig Boyko, AGO.
Portrait of Bertram Brooker (1888–1955). M.O. Hammond Collection, National Gallery of Canada Archives, Ottawa. Photograph by M.O. Hammond.
Synchromy, 1917, by Stanton Macdonald-Wright. Museum of Modern Art, New York (346.1949).
Art Canada Institute
Massey College, University of Toronto
4 Devonshire Place
Toronto, ON M5S 2E1
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Uhlyarik, Georgiana, 1972-, author
Kathleen Munn : life & work / by Georgiana Uhlyarik.
Includes bibliographical references.
Contents: Biography — Key works — Significance & critical issues —
Style & technique — Where to see — Notes — Glossary — Sources &
resources — About the author — Credits.
Electronic monograph.
ISBN 978-0-9921483-8-6 (pdf).—ISBN 978-1-4871-0000-1 (epub)
1. Munn, Kathleen Jean, 1887-1974. 2. Munn, Kathleen
Jean, 1887-1974—Criticism and interpretation. 3. Women
painters—Canada—Biography. I. Art Canada Institute, issuing
body II. Title.
About the Author
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