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Artist Database
ARY, Sylvia Bercovitch
- Born
- Moscow, Russia, 1923
- Died
- Montreal, Quebec, 2015
- Biography synopsis
- Known for her paintings of the Plateau in Montreal, Ary, nee Bercovitch, was the daughter of well-known Montreal artist Alexander Bercovitch. The family immigrated to Canada from Turkestan in 1926. In 1934 she began drawing classes with Fritz Brandtner and, at 14, came first in a Canada-wide children’s competition (1937). The prize was a week-long trip to Paris to visit the World’s Fair. She studied at the Children's Creative Art Center founded by Norman Bethune in 1936 and later with Anne Savage at Baron Byng school. She received a bursary to study with Holgate at the Art Association of Montreal. She studied etching at the Montreal Institute of Graphic Arts under Albert Dumouchel, with whom she learned lithography. Ary’s paintings are on display across Canada, in Boston, New York, San Francisco, London and Jerusalem. She won many awards including first prize at the 1960 Art Exhibition of Saint Laurent and first prize in 1968 at the Pratt Institute in New York for her miniature etchings in their International Competition.
- Media used
- Painting
- Printmaking
- Education
- Art Association of Montreal (under Edwin Holgate)
- File & Archive locations
- Artexte Information Centre, QC - Documentation Centre
- Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
- Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
- Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, QC - Media Centre
- National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
- Winnipeg Art Gallery, MA - Clara Lander Library
- University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- "Sylvia Ary Exhibit at Artlenders Studio." The Canadian Jewish Chronicle. 30 Oct. 1964: 9
- Blouin, Nicole. "Exposition des oeuvres du peintre Sylvia Ary." L'Artisan 28 Seo. 1962: 3
- Boulanger, Roland. “Sylvia Ary, un peintre que le satire anime.” Le Canada 1 Dec. 1950
- Gladu, Paul. "Une riche lumière sur les choses quotidiennes." Le Petit Journal Nov. 1964: A93
- Label, Ruth. "Perspective." The Citizen 18 Apr. 1963: 9
- Le Guillou, Andree. The Art of Sylvia Ary Peintre. Frederiction, N.B.: Goose Lane Publications, 2008
- Le Guillou, Andree. , “De Moscou à Montréal, Sylvia Ary” Magazin’Art 4.4 (Summer 1992)
- Le Guillou, Andree. “L’Éventail qui masque et démasque,” Magazin'Art 8.4 (Summer 1996)
- 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.
- 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.
