Fonds LA.SC021 - Arthur Lismer and Marjorie Lismer Bridges fonds

Identity area

Reference code

LA.SC021

Title

Arthur Lismer and Marjorie Lismer Bridges fonds

Date(s)

  • 1899-1986 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

24 cm of textual records
18 photographs

Context area

Name of creator

(1885-1969)

Biographical history

Arthur Lismer, painter and art educator, was born in Sheffield, England in 1885. He studied at the Sheffield School of Art 1899–1906 and later at the Académie royale des beaux-arts in Antwerp. In 1911 he immigrated to Toronto where he worked as a commercial illustrator for the Grip Engraving Company and taught at the Ontario College of Art. He married Esther Mawson in 1912 and their only child Marjorie was born in 1913. Lismer's career as an art educator began at the Victoria School of Art and Design in Halifax, 1916–1919, followed soon after by his appointment as Vice-President of the Ontario College of Art in Toronto. In 1920 he became a founding member of the Group of Seven. His best-known works in oil are wilderness landscapes, expressionist in style with a use of raw colour and simplified form. He also produced many works on paper, including several portraits. Lismer established a Children's Art Centre at the Art Gallery of Toronto, where he was educational supervisor, 1927–1938. He was briefly educational supervisor at the National Gallery of Canada, later holding that post at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from 1941 to 1967. He was assistant professor of fine arts at McGill University, 1948–1954. He died in Montreal in 1969. Arthur Lismer was a member of the Arts and Letters Club, Ontario Society of Artists, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Canadian Group of Painters, Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, and Federation of Canadian Artists. His work is in many Canadian public collections. Following her father’s death, Marjorie Lismer Bridges devoted a number of years to organizing his archival records and gradually donating them to public repositories. She wrote the “Arthur Lismer source book”, which is included in the fonds.

Name of creator

(1913-2006)

Biographical history

Marjorie Lismer Bridges (1913-2006), who lived most of her life in Ashton, Maryland, devoted a number of years to organizing her father’s archival records after his death, gradually donating them to public repositories. Her book on her father’s drawings, A Border of Beauty: Arthur Lismer’s Pen and Pencil (Toronto: Red Rock), was published in 1977. She also wrote the “Arthur Lismer source book,” included in the Arthur Lismer and Marjorie Lismer Bridges fonds.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

The material now constituting the Arthur Lismer and Marjorie Lismer Bridges fonds was donated by Marjorie Lismer Bridges between 1976 and 1987.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

The fonds consists of exhibition lists; manuscripts of articles, lectures, radio broadcasts, and a book; correspondence; art education pamphlets; materials related to a National Film Board production about the artist; papers about other artists; memorabilia from the Arts and Letters Club, Toronto; photographs and papers relating to Tom Thomson; and a source book on Arthur Lismer prepared by Marjorie Lismer Bridges.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

No further accruals are expected.

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open

Conditions governing reproduction

Copyright of material in the Arthur Lismer and Marjorie Lismer Bridges fonds remains with administrators of the Lismer estate. Researchers should contact the archivist for information. Copyright belonging to other parties, such as that of photographs, may still rest with the creator of these items. It is the researcher’s responsibility to obtain permission for the reproduction of any part of the fonds.

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Allied materials area

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Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

The Angela Grigor-Arthur Lismer collection contains research materials related to Arthur Lismer.
Related material concerning Lismer’s teaching activities may be found in the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Institutional Archives.

Notes area

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Dates of creation revision deletion

2012; adapted and uploaded 2019

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Archivist's note

Prepared by Amy Marshall Furness and Gary Fitzgibbon, uploaded and adapted by Hannah Johnston and Nirvana Chainani.

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