Who were the beaver hall group?
The Beaver Hall Group was a modernist collective of painters named after the downtown Montreal art studio they all shared at 305 Beaver Hall Hill. Formed in 1920, unlike other art groups of the time, the Beaver Hall Group was known for its inclusivity; welcoming both men and women.
Laurentian Winter by A.Y. Jackson
This avant garde collective emphasized the right of the artist to paint what they feel, straying away from the traditional artistic norms of the time. A.Y. Jackson, the group’s president, is quoted to have said “ Schools and ‘isms’ do not trouble us; individual expression is our chief concern”
THE BEAVER HALL GROUP members
Nora Collyer (1898-1979)
Lilias Torrance Newton (1896-1980)
Henrieta Mabel May (1877-1971)
Anne Savage (1896-1971)
Sarah Robertson (1891-1948)
Mabel Lockerby (1882-1976)
Kathleen Morris (1893-1986)
Emily Coonan (1885-1971)
Ethel Seath (1879-1963)
Prudence Heward (1896-1947)
A.Y. Jackson (1882-1974)
Randolph Stanley Hewton (1888-1960)
Edwin Holgate (1892-1977)
Adrien Hébert (1890-1967)
Henri Hébert (1884-1950)
André Bieler (1896-1989)
Albert H. Robinson (1881-1956)
THE HISTORY OF BEAVER HALL
The collective met while studying at the Art Association of Montreal, many under the tutelage of William Brymner.
There is little documentation of The Beaver Hall Group. They focused more on camaraderie and peer mentorship than strict membership policies or well-defined subject matters. Depicting everything from rural living, urbanized cityscapes and contemporary portraits, The Beaver Hall Group painted a picture of Canada that was different from the untouched wilderness that made the Group of Seven so famous.
Riviere Du Nord by Adrien Hebert
Their first official exhibition took place on January 17, 1921 but with no interest in fame or fortune, the collective only exhibited a handful of times before disbanding in 1923. Their lack of focus prevented them from cementing their name in the art scene at the time but The Beaver Hall Group represents a complex and multi-faceted era of Canadian modernist art in the 1920’s.
Miss Mary Macintosh by Randolph Stanley Hewton
Their legacy lives on today through their work which has since earned critical acclaim and become well-known and valued by collectors.