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BROWN, Annora
- Born
- Fort Macleod, Alberta, 1899
- Died
- Deep Cove, British Columbia, 1987
- Biography synopsis
- Mary Annora Brown was born in Fort Macleod, Alberta in 1899. As a young woman she attended the Ontario College of Art, where she studied with the Group of Seven members Arthur Lismer and J.E.H. MacDonald. After completing her studies she began teaching at Mount Royal College, Calgary in 1929, and returned to Fort MacLeod in 1931. There she did fieldwork in handicrafts for the Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta. Between 1945 and 1950, Brown taught at the Banff School of Fine Arts. Influenced by her studies with members of the Group of Seven at the Ontario College of Art, Brown broke with the conservative nature of art in the region. Working in Fort MacLeod and throughout the foothills, she was influenced by the landscape, people, and flowers that surrounded her. In 1955 Brown published “Old Man’s Garden,” which recorded the legends of the Old Man River and she also illustrated a number of children's books. As a result of her extensive knowledge of floral life in Alberta, Brown was commissioned by the Glenbow Foundation to create two hundred flower paintings. Throughout her career she exhibited with the Art Association of Montreal, the Canadian Society of Artists, and the Ontario Society of Artists, she was also the first female member of the Alberta Society of Artists. Annora Brown passed away in 1987.
- Media used
- Graphic design
- Painting
- Watercolour
- Education
- Ontario College of Art & Design (formerly Ontario School of Art) (under Arthur Lismer; J.E.H. MacDonald)
- Memberships
- Alberta Society of Artists
- Calgary Sketch Club
- Lethbridge Sketch Club
- File & Archive locations
- University of Calgary Library, AB
- Vancouver Art Gallery, BC - Library
- Winnipeg Art Gallery, MA - Clara Lander Library
- National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
- Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, QC
- Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, QC - Media Centre
- Glenbow Archives, AB - Main Catalogue
- University of Alberta Archives
- Calgary Public Library, AB - Arts Department
- Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
- Canadian Museum of Civilization Archives, QC
- University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
- Trent University Archives, ON
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- "Alberta Artists." The Globe and Mail 10 Mar. 1937: 14
- "Annora Brown - Noted Artist was Trained by Lismer." Globe and Mail (Toronto) 28 Feb. 1987
- Alderson, Patricia. Annora Brown: Forming a Regionalist Sensibility Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary, 2005
- Cook, Sharon Anne, et al., eds. Framing Our Past: Canadian Women's History in the 20th Century. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001
- Hunt, J. Doris. "Annora Brown of Fort MacLeod." Canadian Woman Studies 1.3 (1979): 91-93
http://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/view/14561/13613 - Hunt, J. Doris. "The Art of Annora Brown AOCA." Canadian Review of Music and Art 3.11-12 (Dec-Jan.) 1944-45: 27-29
- Laviolette, Mary-Beth. A Delicate Art: Artists, Wildflowers and Native Plants of the West. Vancouver: Rocky Mountain Books, 2012
- LaViolette, Mary-Beth. Alberta Mistresses of the Modern, 1935-1975. Edmonton: Art Gallery of Alberta, 2012
- Milroy, Sarah, editor. Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Movement. Vancouver: Figure 1, 2021
- Norbury, F.M.. "Alberta Pictures to Tour Dominion.” Edmonton Journal 07 Jan. 1946: 5
- Reichwein, P. and K. Wall. Uplift: Visual Culture at the Banff School of Fine Arts Banff: Banff School of Fine Arts, 2020
- Render, Lorne E. Glenbow Collects: An Exhibition. Calgary: Glenbow-Alberta Art Gallery, 1969
- Ring House Gallery. Annora Brown - Sketches from Life: An Exhibition Held in Celebration of the Publication of Autobiography. Calgary: Glenbow Museum, 1982
- Rodenburg, Mieke. Two Hundred Wildflowers: Annora Brown’s Botanical Watercolours, Scientific Illustration, and Conservationism in Alberta. Kingston, Ontario: Queen's University, MA thesis, 2017
- Rodenburg, Mieke. "Annora Brown's Alberta Wildflowers." Queens' Quarterly 124.2 (Summer, 2017): 226
- Rozuma, Molly. ""Old Woman Who Never Dies" and Old Mans Garden." Grasslands Grown: Creating Place on the U.S. Northern Plains and Canadian Prairies Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2021
- Townshend, Nancy. A History of Art in Alberta, 1905-1970 Calgary, Alberta: Bayeux, 2005
- Wells, Oliver N. and Richard and Marie Wheeden. Edenbank: The History of a Canadian Pioneer Farm. Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2003
- Zimon, Kathy E. Alberta Society of Artists: The First Seventy Years Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2000
Writings by- Brown, Annora. Flowers of Alberta. Calgary: Glenbow-Alberta Institute, 1974
- Brown, Annora. Old Man's Garden. Ottawa: Algrove, 2000
- Brown, Annora. Sketches from Life. Edmonton: Hurtig, 1981
- Brown, Annora. "Prairie Totems." Canadian Geographical Journal Ottawa: Royal Canadian Geographical Society, 23 (3 Sept 1941): 148-151
- M., Olive and Clara Tyner; Illustrated by Annora Brown. Totem, Tipi and Tumpline : Stories of Canadian Indians. Toronto and Vancouver: J.M. Dent, 1962
- Ricker, Donalda, et al.; illustrated by Annora Brown. Proud Procession: Canadian Parade Readers. Toronto and Vancouver: J.M. Dent and Sons, 1954
- Stephen, Pamela; illustrated by Annora Brown. Winged Canoes at Nootka. Toronto and Vancouver: J.M. Dent, 1955
Full text pdfs of exhibition reviews- Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, ) "Art Association 48th Spring Show High In Interest." Gazette (Montreal) . p.16. Full-text pdf
- Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, ) "Spring Exhibition of Art Association Opened on Thursday." Montreal Star . p.17. Full-text pdf
- Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, ) "Spring Exhibition on Generous Scale. Show at Art Gallery Opened Last Night Contains 621 Items." Gazette (Montreal) . p.2. Full-text pdf
- Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, ) "Annual Spring Exhibition at Art Association." Montreal Star . p.8. Full-text pdf
- Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, ) "Nearly 500 Works at Spring Exhibit. Art Association's 54th Annual Show Opens with Private Views. Judges Open-Minded." Gazette (Montreal) . p.13,17. Full-text pdf
- Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, ) "The Spring Exhibition of the Art Association." Montreal Star . p.17. Full-text pdf
- Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (, ) "R.C.A. Exhibition Has Private View. Over 300 Works in Galleries of Art Association of Montreal. Standard Maintained." Gazette (Montreal) . p.5. Full-text pdf
- Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (, ) "Canadian Academy Opens Sixtieth Exhibition." Montreal Star . p.11. Full-text pdf
