Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [1898?]–1980 (Creation)
Level of description
Series
Extent and medium
1,417 photographs
52 postcards
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Frances Norma Loring, sculptor, was born in Wardner, Idaho October 14, 1887. She studied sculpture in Geneva, Munich and Paris 1901-1905. In 1905 at the Art Institute of Chicago, she met Florence Wyle with whom she subsequently shared studios in New York (1909-1912) and Toronto (1912-1966). A member in 1920 of the Ontario Society of Artists, she was a founding member (1928) of the Sculptors' Society of Canada and a chief organizer of the Federation of Canadian Artists and the National Arts Council. Among her best-known public monuments are the lion of the Queen Elizabeth Monument in Toronto (originally near the entrance to the Queen Elizabeth Way) and war memorials at St Stephen, New Brunswick and Cambridge (formerly Galt), Ontario. Frances Loring died in Newmarket, Ontario February 3, 1968. Florence Wyle, sculptor, was born in Trenton, Illinois November 24, 1881. While studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1905, she met Frances Loring, with whom she later moved to New York. Loring moved to Canada in 1912, where Wyle joined her the following year. They each produced a considerable body of work in their studio, a converted church, in Toronto. A member of the Ontario Society of Artists (1920), Wyle was the first woman sculptor to become a full member of the Royal Canadian Academy. She was also a published writer (Poems, 1958). Among her public sculptures is the relief of Edith Cavell on the grounds of the Toronto General Hospital. Florence Wyle died in Newmarket, Ontario January 13, 1968. Loring & Wyle’s works are in the collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada and the Canadian War Museum and in several public and private buildings in Ontario.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Frances Loring (1887-1968) and Florence Wyle (1881-1968) were Canadian sculptors. Frances Loring was born in Wardner, Idaho. She studied art in Europe as well as Chicago, Boston, and New York. Florence Wyle was born in Trenton, Illinois, and studied medicine at the University of Illinois and then art at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she later taught classes. She then worked in New York where she shared a studio with Frances Loring. Loring and Wyle moved to Toronto in 1912, and in 1920 bought an old church and converted it into a studio. Loring and Wyle were both active in Canadian art movements and were founding members of the Sculptors Society of Canada in 1928. Their work can be seen at the National Gallery in Ottawa, Art Gallery of Toronto, and in the streets of Toronto on such buildings as the Toronto General Hospital and Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, and on memorials in small towns in Ontario, New Brunswick and Maine.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Series comprises photographs chiefly from the estates of Frances Loring and Florence Wyle, including
photos of their sculptures, studio portraits and snapshots of the artists, photos of their families and
friends, photos of their studio/residence in Toronto and of other subjects. Series includes the group of
photographs donated in 1987 by Frances Loring’s brother Tom Loring.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
The 1983 accrual from the Loring and Wyle estates of material in this series comprises two groups: 1)
photographs of sculptures and related subjects, and 2) other photos. The photos of sculptures were
numbered (excluding some duplicates) after 1983.
These photos, with assigned numbers, were then photocopied and the copies bound together in
binders for easy identification and efficient retrieval of the original photographs. The numbering sequence
did not separate the sculptures of the two artists.
In 2006 the series was re-arranged. The numbered photographs of sculptures by Loring were brought
together, as were those by Wyle. Photographs of the artists’ sculptures are thus in discontinuous
numerical sequence within a folder or box, but still in the same order as the bound photocopies. Oversize
numbered photographs are located in separate boxes.
In arranging this series, all other numbers on photographs apart from those of sculptures (and related
subjects) have been disregarded. Unnumbered photographs are chiefly biographical, i.e., pictures of the
artists, their families and friends.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Statement(s) of responsibility: Annotations on photos note the names of photographers Jean Gainfort Merrill, Pringle and Booth, Nott and Merrill, Herb Nott, Ashley and Crippen, Richard Harrington, Robert Flaherty and the National Film Board of Canada and others.
Note
Physical description: Photographs include 1,404 black-and-white and colour prints (photographs), 3 black-and-white negatives
and 11 black-and-white contact sheets. Most files contain duplicate photographic prints.
Note
Alpha-numeric designations:Designations for photos such as “3a, 3b …” (rather than 3, 3a, 3b …) were assigned 1) to the same photo in two or more sizes; or 2) a photo in original and retouched versions; or 3) an image in two or more
formats (e.g., postcard, clipping); or 4) two or more photos of the same work(s) taken at different times or
from different distances or perspectives or with different backgrounds or lighting.