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HOUSSER, Yvonne McKague

Born
Toronto, Ontario, 1897
Died
Toronto, Ontario, 1996
Biography synopsis
Muriel Yvonne McKague Housser studied at the Ontario College of Art from 1915 to 1920 and stayed to teach there for the following year. In 1921 she studied in Paris at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, the Académie Colarossi, and the Académie Ranson. She later studied in Mexico with Emil Bistram and in Cape Cod under Hofmann. She returned to Canada 1922 and continued teaching at the Ontario College of Art until 1949. She also taught at Ryerson Collegiate Institute and at the Doon School of Fine Arts. She traveled in Europe in 1924, visiting England, France and Italy. In 1930 she spent the summer in Vienna and took a course on child art with Cizek. In 1935 she married the art critic and financial editor of the Toronto Star and author of "A Canadian Art Movement: The Story of the Group of Seven," Frederick Housser. He died in 1936. Her painting moved to semi-abstraction and abstraction. In 1965 she received the Baxter Purchase Award at the Ontario Society of Artists' forty-seventh exhibition. She was a member of the Ontario Society of Artists (1927), the Royal Canadian Academy (ARCA, 1942; RCA, 1951), the Canadian Group of Painters (founding member, 1933), the Federation of Canadian Artists (founding member, 1941) and the Heliconian club. She is represented at the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Hart House, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the McMichael Canadian Collection, Kleinburg, the University of Toronto, Victoria University, the Public Library and Art Museum, London and many private collections. She painted a mural for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. The mural is now owned by the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology, Ottawa. She received the Order of Canada in 1984
Media used
Drawing
Painting
Printmaking
Education
Ontario College of Art & Design (formerly Ontario School of Art), ? - 1917
Académie Colarossi, Paris, 1921
Académie Ranson, Paris, 1921 - ?
Private study (under Emil Bistram; Hans Hofmann; Cizek)
Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Paris, 1921
Memberships
Ontario Society of Artists, 1927
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Associate, 1942; Academician, 1951
Canadian Group of Painters, Founding member, 1933
Heliconian Club
Federation of Canadian Artists, Founding member, 1941
File & Archive locations
Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
University of Victoria, BC - Special Collections
London Public Library, ON
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, ON - Library and Archives
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, QC
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, QC - Media Centre
National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
Toronto Reference Library, ON
University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
Vancouver Art Gallery, BC - Library
Winnipeg Art Gallery, MA - Clara Lander Library
Archives of Ontario
Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, ON
Queen's University Archives, ON
Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
Calgary Public Library, AB - Arts Department
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
The Canadian Forum 12.140 (May 1932): 299
The Canadian Forum 14.162 (Mar. 1934): 219
The Journal, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (Oct. 1932): 234
" ... Group Shows at Art Association." Gazette (Montreal) 5 Jan. 1946
"59 Paintings Auctioned for Refugees' Benefit Bring Total of $2459." Ottawa Citizen 4 Oct. 1940
"Canadian Group Shows Nearly 100 Paintings." Gazette (Montreal) 10 Jan. 1948
"Fine Work Marks R.C.A. Exhibition." Gazette (Montreal) 20 Nov. 1925
"Her Brush Misses the Spirit." Nugget (North Bay) 16 Apr. 1934
"Paintings Shown at Library." News-Chronicle (Port Arthur, Ontario) 21 Apr. 1953
"Paris - The Magnet: Canadian Artist Finds French Academies Stimulating." Quality Street (Apr. 1926): 9-10, 24, 29
"The Best Old Town I Know." Gold Magazine (Dec. 1933)
"Two Exhibitions At Art Gallery." Toronto Star 11 Jan. 1948
American Federation of Arts. Who's Who in American Art, 1986. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1986
Anderson, Janice. Creating Room: Canadian Women Mural Painters and Rereadings of the Public and the Private Montreal: Concordia University, 2002
Angel, Sara. “On Yvonne McKague Housser,” Modernisms, Inside & Out: The Fourth Conference of the Canadian Women Artists History Initiative. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario and McMichael Collection, 30 Sep. - 2 Oct. 2021
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FqVDKtJQ20
Ayre, Robert. "Art Notes: Canadian Group of Painters On Display at the Museum." Star (Montreal) 9 Nov. 1957
Ayre, Robert. "Art Notes: Canadian Group of Painters Reveal a Disturbing Lack of Consistency." Unknown (Montreal Star?) 12 Nov. 1960: 29
Ayre, Robert. "Canadian Group of Painters' Exhibition is Small but Good." Standard (Montreal) 14 Mar. 1942: 29
Ayre, Robert. "Canadian Group of Painters." The Canadian Forum (Toronto) 14.159 (Dec. 1933): 98-100
Ayre, Robert. "Contemporary Painting: Art Surveys Canadian Scene." Montreal Star 11 Nov. 1963
Ayre, Robert. "Significant Exhibition at Toronto by Diligent Canadian Group of Painters 'Bristling With Signs of the Times'." Standard (Toronto) 18 Nov. 1939: M6
Ayre, Robert. "The Canadian Group of Painters." Canadian Art 6.3 (Spring 1949): 98-102
Boutilier, Alicia. 4 Women Who Painted in the 1930s and 1940s: Rody Kenny Courtice, Bobs Cogill Haworth, Yvonne McKague Housser and Isabel McLaughlin. Ottawa: Carleton University Art Gallery, 1998
Boyanoski, Christine. "Charles Comfort's Lake Superior Village and the Great Lakes Exhibition." Journal of Canadian Art History 12.2 (1989): 174-98
Buckman, Edward. "Cobalt and the Artists: Edward Buckman Takes Issue with the "Conventional Modernism" He Sees in Yvonne McKague's Famous Painting." Gold Magazine (April 1934)
Cameron, Janice, et al. Eclectic Eve. Toronto: Ontario College of Art and Design, 1974
Canadian Group of Painters. Canadian Group of Painters, Exhibition 1942 Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1942
Canadian Group of Painters. Canadian Group of Painters, Exhibition 1955-1956 Montreal: 1956
Canadian Group of Painters. Canadian Group of Painters, Exhibition 1957 Montreal: 1957
Canadian Group of Painters. Canadian Group of Painters, Exhibition 1958 Vancouver: 1958
Canadian Group of Painters. Canadian Group of Painters, Exhibition 1959 Toronto: 1959
Canadian Group of Painters. Canadian Group of Painters, Exhibition 1961 Vancouver: 1961
Canadian Group of Painters. Canadian Group of Painters, Exhibition 1962 Toronto: 1962
Canadian Group of Painters. Canadian Group of Painters, Exhibition 1963-1964 Montreal: 1963
Canadian Group of Painters. Canadian Group of Painters, Exhibition 1965 Victoria: 1965
Canadian Group of Painters. Canadian Group of Painters, Exhibition 1966 Hamilton: 1966
Carr, Angela, ed. Raven Papers: Remembering Natalie Luckyj (1945-2002) Newcastle, ON: Penumbra Press, 2010
Demers, René. "Beaux Arts: Les théories mécaniques appliqués à l'art." La Patrie (Montreal) 17 Jan. 1934
Farr, Dorothy and Luckyj, Natalie. From Women's Eyes: Women Painters in Canada Kingston: Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 1975
Flood, John. "Yvonne McKague Housser: Northern Moments." Northward Journal: A Quarterly of Northern Arts 16 (1980): 10-14
Frye, Helen Kemp. "Yvonne McKague Housser." Canadian Forum VXVII (Sept. 1938): 176
Gorman, W. J. "Grab Samples." Northern Miner (5 Apr. 1934)
Hoover, Dorothy. "One of the Unforgettables: Yvonne McKague Housser." Alumnus News Letter, Ontario College of Art Alumni Association (Spring & Summer 1979): 4-5
Jackson, A.Y. A Painter's Country Toronto: Clarke Irwin, 1972
Jacob, Luis. Form follows Fiction: Art and Artists in Toronto London, England: Black Dog Press & Art Gallery University of Toronto, 2020
Jasmin, Claude. "Canadian Group of Painters, ou plusieurs peintres du Canada tout...anglais?" La Presse (Montreal) 30 Nov. 1963: 22
Jewell, Edward Alden. "Canadian Women Offer Art Display." New York Times 29 Apr. 1947: 33
Joyal, Paul. "Exposition du Canadian Group." La Presse (Montreal) 15 Jan. 1946
Kritzwiser, Kay. "Housewife's prize means a larger studio." Globe & Mail (Toronto) 6 Oct. 1969: 15
Kritzwiser, Kay. "This Age of Risk." Globe and Mail (Toronto) 1 Jul. 1967
London Public Library and Art Museum. Master Canadian Painters and Sculptors London, Ontario: 1963
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
Mastin, Catharine. Cobalt: A Mining Town and the Canadian Imagination. Kleinburg, ON: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 2024
Mawr, David. "Canadian Group of Painters Exhibit Opens." Windsor Daily Star 14 May 1949
McCarthy, Pearl. "Art and Artists: Fine Show Home Again From N.Y." Globe and Mail (Toronto) 6 Sept. 1947: 8
McInnes, G. Campbell. “World of Art.” Saturday Night (18 Jan. 1936): 4
McInnes, Graham. "Canadian Group of Painters." Canadian Art 3.2 (Jan-Feb. 1946): 76
Milroy, Sarah, ed. Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Movement Vancouver: Figure 1, 2021
Murray, Joan. Pilgrims in the Wilderness: The Struggle of the Canadian Group of Painters (1933-1969). Oshawa: The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 1993
Murray, Joan. The Art of Yvonne McKague Housser. Oshawa: The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 1995
Musée du Québec. Au féminin: choix d'oeuvres de la collection du Musée du Québec, 1920-1930 Québec: Musée du Québec, 1997
Museu nacional de belas artes. Pintura Canadense Contemporarnea Rio De Janeiro: Museu nacional de belas artes, 1944
National Council of Women of Canada. Canadian Women Artists' Exhibition, Sponsored by Local Council of Women of Kitchener Kitchener: Canadian Arts Council and Department of External Affairs, 1947
National Council of Women of Canada. Femmes peintres canadiennes: Expositions présentée par le conseil national des femmes canadiennes 1947
National Gallery of Canada. First Biennial Exhibition of Canadian Painting, 1955 Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1955
Nelson, Charmaine. Through An-Other's Eyes: White Canadian Artists - Black Female Subjects. Oshawa: The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 1998
Ontario Society of Artists. Catalogue of the Ninety-Seventh Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture of the Ontario Society of Artists, 1969 London, Ontario: Unknown, 1969
Reference Division, McPherson Library, compilers. Creative Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Creative and Performing Arts Toronto: University of Toronto Press, University of Victoria, 1971
Repentigny, R. de. "Images et plastiques: Pour trop de goûts à la fois." La Presse (Montreal) 9 Nov. 1957
Ross, Val. "Artist among first to study at OCA." Globe and Mail (Toronto) 31 Jan. 1996: A12
Royal Canadian Academy. Royal Canadian Academy 87th Annual Exhibition 1966 Toronto: 1966
Royal Canadian Academy. Royal Canadian Academy 88th Annual Exhibition 1967 Montreal: 1967
South Ontario Galleries. Canadian Abstract Exhibition Oshawa, ON: South Ontario Galleries, 1952
The Fine Art Galleries, Eaton's. 4 Women Who Paint Toronto: 1948
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.
Tunnell, Arthur L., ed. Canadian Who's Who, 1973-1975. Toronto: Who's Who Canadian Publications, c1975
Vancouver Art Gallery. Do You Own a Contemporary Painting? Annual Exhibition Organized by the Women's Auxiliary to the Vancouver Art Gallery Vancouver: 1960

Writings by
Housser, Yvonne McKague. "Canadian Group of Painters - 1944." Canadian Art 1.4 (Apr-May 1944): 142-147
Housser, Yvonne McKague. "Excerpts from Letters to Fred Housser, Cobalt, 1934." Northward Journal, A Quarterly of Northern Arts 16 (1980): 29-38
Housser, Yvonne McKague. "Excerpts from Letters to Fred Housser, Whitefish Falls, 1936." Northward Journal, A Quarterly of Northern Arts 16 (1980): 39-40
Housser, Yvonne McKague. "Mining Country." Northward Journal, A Quarterly of Northern Arts 16 (1980): 15-26
Housser, Yvonne McKague. "North Shore of Lake Superior." Northward Journal, A Quarterly of Northern Arts 16 (1980): 27-28

Full text pdfs of exhibition reviews
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Montreal, November 19, 1925) "Fine Work Marks R.C.A. Exhibition. New Schools Offer Contrast to Solidly-Based Qualities of Older and Established Painters."  Gazette (Montreal)  November 20, 1925.  p.10.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, November 18, 1926) "The R.C.A."  Canadian Bookman  January 1927.  p.11.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Montreal, November 21, 1929) "R.C.A. Show Opened with Private View. Fifty-first Annual Exhibition Housed in Art Association Galleries."  Gazette (Montreal)  November 22, 1929.  p.18.   Full-text pdf
Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, March 1930) "Outstanding Works for Ontario Artists' Exhibit."  Toronto Star  March 06, 1930.  p.3.   Full-text pdf
Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, March 1930) Constance C. Mackay.  "O.S.A. Exhibit."  Toronto Saturday Night  March 15, 1930.  p.39.   Full-text pdf
Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, March 1932) Hector Charlesworth.  "O.S.A's Sixtieth Show."  Toronto Saturday Night  March 19, 1932.  p.10.   Full-text pdf
Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, March 1933) Lucy Van Gogh.  "The O.S.A. Show."  Toronto Saturday Night  March 18, 1933.  p.13.   Full-text pdf
Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, March 1935) Lucy Van Gogh.  "World of Art."  Toronto Saturday Night  March 09, 1935.  p.15.   Full-text pdf
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
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (, 1936) Fred H. Brigden.  "The Fifty-Seventh Annual Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts."  Royal Architectural Institute of Canada  December 1936.  13.12: pp.216-223.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (, November 16, 1939) "R.C.A. Exhibition Has Private View. Over 300 Works in Galleries of Art Association of Montreal. Standard Maintained."  Gazette (Montreal)  November 17, 1939.  p.5.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (, November 16, 1939) "Canadian Academy Opens Sixtieth Exhibition."  Montreal Star  November 17, 1939.  p.11.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (, November 16, 1939) Reynald.  "Le 60e Salon de l'Académie."  La Presse  November 17, 1939.  pp.9,16.   Full-text pdf

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