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BRIANSKY, Rita

Born
Grajewo, Poland, 1925
Biography synopsis
Born in Poland, Briansky immigrated to Canada in 1929, first to Ansonville, Ontario, and, in 1941, to Montreal. There, she attended Baron Byng High School and studied with Anne Savage and Alexander Bercovitch. She studied at the Art Association of Montreal from 1944-46 with Jacques de Tonnancour, and later at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Montreal. She also studied at the Art Students League in New York. She was a member of the group The Art Workshop. She worked in a wide range of media: paintings, drawings, watercolours, pastels and prints. Between 1944 and1946 she exhibited at the Spring Exhibition of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art. She participated in a number of international biennials and she taught at the Centre des arts visuels in Montreal and also at the Saidye Bronfman Centre. She exhibited her work throughout Canada. Briansky's sketchbooks are held in the Jewish Public Library ArchivesHer works are part of over sixty permanent collections, including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Mendel Art Gallery, the Musée du Québec, and the National Gallery of Canada.
Media used
Painting
Printmaking
Education
Art Association of Montreal (under Anne Savage, Alexander Bercovitch)
Art Students' League, New York
Memberships
Canadian Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers
Canadian Society of Graphic Art
File & Archive locations
Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
Artexte Information Centre, QC - Documentation Centre
Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec
University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
Vancouver Art Gallery, BC - Library
University of Manitoba - Architecture and Fine Arts Library
Winnipeg Art Gallery, MA - Clara Lander Library
National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
Toronto Reference Library, ON
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, QC
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, QC - Media Centre
Jewish Public Library Archives, QC
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
Learning to See: The Sketchbooks of Rita Briansky. Montreal, QC: Jewish Public Library, 2023
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS1I7PcR5xw
Bolla-Paquet Corine. “Rita Briansky : Fragments De Pologne Ou La Peinture Comme Géographie Du Désastre.” Vie des Arts 40.164 (Fall 1996): 70-71
http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/53362ac
Concordia University. The New York Connection: Direction New York. Montreal, Quebec: Concordia University Sir George Williams Art Galleries, 1982
Fidelman, Charlie.. "Rita Briansky Makes a Painful Journey into Past: The Return to Her Native Poland Inspires a Series of Paintings that Became a Time of Mourning." The Gazette The Gazette (Montreal) 16 Jan 1997: F16
Giordan, Henriette.. "Rita Briansky: Du Vêtement Comme Portrait [Rita Briansky: Clothes as Portraits]." Magazin'art 7.3 (1995: 81-84
Heller, Jules and Nancy. North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century. New York: Garland, 1995.
Lefebvre, Germain, Landori, Eva and Elie, Robert. Salon international de la Gravure : Montréal 1971/ International Exhibition of Graphics : Montréal 1971. Montreal, QC: Musée des Beaux-arts de Montréal/Montreal Museum of Fine Art, 1971
MacDonald, Colin S. The Dictionary of Canadian Artists. (Volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker) Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2009.
Scott Susan G and Rita Briansky. My Name Is Rita Briansky : A Series of Autobiographical Fragments. Montreal, Quebec: Blurb.com, 2011
Trépanier, Esther. Jewish Painters of Montreal: Witnesses of Their Time, 1930 - 1948. Montréal, Quebec: Les Éditions de l'Homme, 2008
Trepanier, Esther and Landry, Pierre. Femmes artistes du XXe siecle au Quebec: Oeuvres du Musee national des beaux-arts du Quebec. Quebec, Quebec: Musee national des beaux-arts du Quebec, 2010.

Writings by
Vineberg Ethel and Rita Briansky.. Grandmother Came from Dworitz: A Jewish Love Story. Toronto, Ont.: Tundra Books, 1987

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