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ADAMS, Lily Osman
- Born
- Toronto, Ontario, 1865
- Died
- Toronto, Ontario, 1945
- Biography synopsis
- This painter of landscapes, still lifes and flowers studied in Toronto, New York and London under such artists as McGillivray Knowles, Birge Harrison and Stanley Forbes. In 1924 she held a joint show with fellow artist Minnie Kallmeyer and received an admiring review from "Saturday Night." Watercolour and pastel were her primary media, though she also painted in oils. She is also known for painting 18 plates with underwater designs for the Cabot Commemorative State Dinner Service, now part of the collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Her work has been shown at the Royal Canadian Academy (1904-36), the Canadian National Exhibition (1907), and the Ontario Society of Artists (1903-20). The Art Gallery of Ontario owns one of her works, a pastel study of trilliums. During the 1930s, she also organized annual exhibitions of her paintings at her studio on Irwin Street.
- Media used
- China painting
- Painting
- Pastels
- Watercolour
- Education
- Private study (under F. McGillivray Knowles)
- Private study (under L. R. O'Brien)
- Ontario College of Art & Design (formerly Ontario School of Art) (under J.W. Beatty)
- Columbia University, New York (under Arthur Dow)
- Art Students' League, New York (under John Carlsen)
- University of Toronto (under A. R. Coleman)
- St. John's Wood Art School
- Ontario College of Art & Design (formerly Ontario School of Art)
- Private study (under Birge Harrison)
- Newlyn School of Art, Newlyn, England (under Stanley Forbes)
- Memberships
- Women's Art Club, Toronto
- File & Archive locations
- Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
- National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
- Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon: Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker. Leipzig: G. K. Saur, 1992
- "Art and Artists." Globe (Toronto) 15 Dec. 1920: 10
- "Review of Joint Show." Toronto Saturday Night (6 Dec. 1924)
- "Two Toronto Women Artists..." Toronto Saturday Night 6 Dec. 1924
- “Art and Artists.” Globe (Toronto) 15 Feb. 1933
- Bradfield, Helen Pepall. Art Gallery of Ontario: The Canadian Collection. Toronto: McGraw-Hill, 1970
- Bull, William Perkins. The Perkins Bull Collection: Historical Paintings by Canadian Artists Illustrating Pioneers and Pioneering in the County of Peel. Brampton, Ontario: Printed privately, 1934
- Canadian Museum of Civilization. This Splendid Gift: the Canadian Historical Dinner Service Ottawa: Canadian Museum of History, 1999
http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/hist/cadeau/caint02e.html - Cooke, W. Martha E. W. H. Coverdale Collection of Canadiana: Paintings, Watercolours and Drawings, Manoir Richelieu Collection. Ottawa: Public Archives of Canada, 1983
- Cronin, Keri. "Science on a Salad Plate: Thinking about the Representation of Natural History in the Canadian Historic Dinner Service Project 1." Natural Science in the New World: The Descriptive Enterprise 31: 1-2 (2008)
http://www.erudit.org/en/journals/scientia/2008-v31-n1-2-scientia2574/019757ar.pdf - Dignam, Mary E. "Ceramic Art and the W.A.A. of Canada." Saturday Globe (Toronto) 53.14 (4 Dec. 1897)
- Dyas, A.E. "Women's Work at the Exhibition." Toronto Saturday Night 7 Sept. 1912: 29, 36
- Elwood, Marie. "The State Dinner Service of Canada, 1898." Material History Bulletin/Bulletin d'histoire de la culture matérielle 3 (Spring 1977): 41-49
http://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/16955 - Gottlieb, Rachel. "Canadian Women China Painters: Artists and Amateurs." Craft and Heritage : Intersections in Critical Studies and Practice. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2022
- Harper, J. Russell. Early Painters and Engravers in Canada Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970
- Hughes, Margaret E. A Guide to Canadian Painters. Toronto: King's Printer, 1940
- M.E.J. "Lily O. Adams's Sketches Reveal Artistic Mind." Unknown 1936
- M.L.F. "Lily Osman Adams." Star (Toronto) Oct. 1923
- McMann, Evelyn de Rostaing. Royal Canadian Academy of Arts/Académie royale des arts du Canada: Exhibitions and Members 1880-1979 Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981
- Petteys, Chris, et al. Dictionary of Women Artists: An International Dictionary of Women Artists Born Before 1900. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1985
- Westbridge, Anthony R. The Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction. Vancouver: Westbridge Publications, 2001
Full text pdfs of exhibition reviews- Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, ) "Art and Artists" Toronto Saturday Night . p.2. Full-text pdf
- Women's Art Association of Canada (Tor) - Thirteenth Annual Exhibition: (Confederation Life Bldng, ) "Work of Lady Artists. Exhibition of the Woman's Art Association. Choice and Attractive Studies of Life and Scenery - "Private View Day" a Great Success." Globe and Mail (Toronto) . p.12. Full-text pdf
- Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition.: (Toronto, ) "Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Society is Holding Its Twenty-Fifth Annual Exhibition. Oils and Water Colours from Pictures Now Shown Will Be Selected Those For St. Louis Exposition." Montreal Star . p.5. Full-text pdf
- Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition.: (Toronto, ) "Royal Academy Exhibition." Montreal Witness . p.2. Full-text pdf
- Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition.: (Toronto, ) "Artists' Society Exhibition." Globe (Toronto) . p.16. Full-text pdf
- Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, ) "The Annual O. S. A. Exhibition. The Season's Pictures." Toronto Saturday Night . p.4. Full-text pdf
- Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, ) Hector Charlesworth. "Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition." Toronto Saturday Night . p.5. Full-text pdf
- Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, ) "Many Fine Paintings at O.S.A. Exhibition." The Globe (Toronto) . p.21. Full-text pdf
- The Joint Annual Exhibition of the RCA and the OSA: (Toronto; Montreal (Fall), ) "War-time Note in Academy Pictures. Camouflaged Shipping the Subject of Some Historically Interesting Works. Standard Maintained. Painters Producing Fewer Works Evidenced by Showing Pictures Exhibited Last Spring in Toronto." Gazette (Montreal) . p.11. Full-text pdf
- Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, ) "O.S.A. Annual Exhibition. Colour, Vigour and Originality Chief Characteristics of the Works. Great War Records." Globe (Toronto) . p.8. Full-text pdf
- Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, ) Hector Charlesworth. "Ontario Society of Artists. Brilliant Portraiture the Outstanding Feature of This Year's Show." Toronto Saturday Night . p.3. Full-text pdf
- Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, ) Hector Charlesworth. "Ontario Society of Artists Present Year's Exhibition of Higher Average Quality Than for Several Years." Toronto Saturday Night . p.5. Full-text pdf
- Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Montreal, ) "Wide Range of Art In R.C.A. Exhibition." Gazette (Montreal) . p.10. Full-text pdf
- Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, ) "New Names on Roster of Artists Whose Work Academy Has Accepted. Fifty-third Annual Exhibition Royal Canadian Academy Opened- Two Hundred Canvases." Evening Telegram (Toronto) . p.14. Full-text pdf
