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.
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.
Published
Series comprises some of Arthur Lismer’s collection of materials on teaching art to children; memorabilia from his membership in the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto including some pen sketches; offprints of articles by his friend Marius Barbeau; a published book in which Lismer drew sketches; and a commonplace book once apparently belonging to Canadian artist Charles MacDonald Manly.
AGO Credit Line: Gift of Marjorie Lismer Bridges, 1976-1987
No further accruals are expected
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File contains art education booklets from Arthur Lismer's collection entitled Drawing (Toronto : Ontario Dept. of Education, 1927) (Art bulletin ; no 2), and Art Education (London : His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1946) (Ministry of Education pamphlet ; no. 6).
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File contains 50th (1958) and 60th (1968) anniversary commemorative booklets of the Arts and Letters Club (Toronto); sheets (2) with pen sketches by Lismer on verso of song lyrics; and a play programme (1911).
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File contains offprints of articles by Canadian ethnographer and folklorist Marius Barbeau (1883-1969) from The Scientific Monthly (1942), The Geographical Review (1945) and other periodicals, with autograph dedications to Arthur Lismer.
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File contains an offprint of an article in Canadian Affairs (1944) by Canadian painter Barker Fairley; and other material.
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Title taken from inside front cover.
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Item is a copy of Hokusai by C.J. Holmes (London: Unicorn Press, 1899) inscribed "A. Lismer," with pen sketches by Lismer on the title page and back endpaper.
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Title taken from inside front cover.
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Item is a commonplace book inscribed on the front endpaper "Notes: various / C.M. Manly, Toronto" (British Canadian artist Charles MacDonald Manly, 1855
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