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GUARD, Marie Cecilia
- Born
- Toronto, Ontario, 1908
- Died
- Kingston, Ontario, 2000
- Biography synopsis
- In 1922 Guard began studying with Frederick Challener at the Central Technical School in Toronto; however, she was forced to leave after being diagnosed with tuberculosis. From 1923 to 1935 she studied at the Ontario College of Art with J.E.H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, Herbert Stansfield and Emanuel Hahn. While studying at OCA, Guard met Ken Phillips whom she married in 1930 while studying at Grand Central Art School with Bollinger and Wolfeigh. According to her daughter, Guard and Phillips were a lifelong artist couple whose works complemented one another's. Throughout her education, Guard focused on figurative, life study and costume classes; she demonstrated a strong interest in portraiture and female nudes rendered in graphite, watercolour and oil paints. In the late 1950s she began teaching adult night classes, as well as privately. Throughout her career Guard's works were used as cover illustrations for such publications as "Chatelaine" and "The Canadian." Her works have been exhibited with the Ontario Society of Artists, Canadian Society of Graphic Art, the Royal Canadian Academy, the National Gallery of Canada Annual Exhibition of Canadian Art and at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre.
- Media used
- Drawing
- Painting
- Watercolour
- Education
- Central Technical School, Toronto, 1922 - ? (under Frederick Challener)
- Ontario College of Art & Design (formerly Ontario School of Art), 1923 - 1935 (under J.E.H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, Herbert Stansfield and Emanuel Hahn)
- Grand Central School of Art, New York City, 1930 - ?
- File & Archive locations
- Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
- Winnipeg Art Gallery, MA - Clara Lander Library
- National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University at Kingston: Exhibitions, 1992-1993 Kingston, Ontario: Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, 1993
- 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
- Hunt, Brian. "Passion that survived the silence: Newly married and under the tutelage of Group of Seven artists, painters Ken Phillips and Marie Cecilia Guard faced the art world with confident optimism. National Post 08 Nov. 1999: D6
- 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
- McMurray, Shandley. "She continues painting in her 90s." The Kingston Whig-Standard 17 Oct. 1998: 3
- McQuay, Peri. "Marie Cecilia Guard still paints at 91." Toronto Star 03 Mar. 2000: 1
- McQuay, Peri. "Visions from the Heart." Kingston Whig-Standard 19 Sep. 1992: 1
- Prakash, A. K. Independent Spirit: Early Canadian Women's Art Buffalo, New York: Firefly Books, 2008
Full text pdfs of exhibition reviews- Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, March 1936) Augustus Bridle. "O.S.A's Exhibition Blazes High Color. Landscapes, Portraits, Figures, But No Action Pictures in Show." Toronto Star March 07, 1936. p.18. Full-text pdf
