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NESS, Jean

Born
Montreal, Quebec, 1901
Died
?, ?
Biography synopsis
As a young woman, Jean Ness studied painting at the Monument National under Edmond Dyonnet and J.Y. Johnstone and later studied with Charles Maillard at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Montreal. After completing studies in Montreal, she went to the United States to study at Columbia University with Charles Martin, with Aldro Hibbard in Rockport, Massachusetts, and with Daniel Garber at the Pennsylvania Academy. On her return to Montreal, Ness began teaching art at a girl's school and at the High School of Montreal. In 1928 she married John A. Findlay and moved to the Kul-Kay-U Indian Reserve at Harley Bay, British Columbia where she began painting the people of aboriginal communities. She exhibited with the Art Association of Montreal in 1925 and 1927, and in 1940 a number of her works depicting the people and landscapes of the west coast were exhibited at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The Museum of Northern B.C. has a large collection of her paintings.
Media used
Painting
Education
Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Montreal (under Charles Maillard)
Monument National, Montreal (under Edmond Dyonnet and J.Y. Johnstone)
Columbia University, New York (under Charles Martin)
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (under Daniel Garber)
File & Archive locations
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, QC
Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
Dickie, Francis. "Canadian Artist Finds her Inspiration in B.C. Wilderness." Vancouver Daily Province 03 Nov. 1945
Dickie, Francis. "Western Woman Artist Paints Unusual Subject." Montreal Star 27 Aug. 1940: 35, 40
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.
Prakash, A. K. Independent Spirit: Early Canadian Women's Art Buffalo, New York: Firefly Books, 2008

Full text pdfs of exhibition reviews
Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, ) "Art Association's Spring Exhibition."  Gazette (Montreal)  .  p.6.   Full-text pdf
Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, ) "Over 300 Exhibits in Spring Art Show. Forty-fourth Exhibition Opened with Private View Last Night. Will Close April 18. Landscapes and Marines Predominate - Some Prominent Artists and Several of Younger Group Unrepresented."  Gazette (Montreal)  .  p.6.   Full-text pdf

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