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MCLAUGHLIN, Isabel

Born
Oshawa, Ontario, 1903
Died
Toronto, Ontario, 2002
Biography synopsis
The artist and collector Isabel McLaughlin was born in Oshawa, Ontario. From 1921 to 1924 she received her first formal art training while attending school in Paris, France. She learned painting and watercolor in Paris under painter Louise Saint. Once she returned to Canada, she studied at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto under Arthur Lismer and Yvonne McKague. Later she traveled to Paris and studied at the Scandinavian Academy from 1929 to 1930. She also attended summer sessions at Hans Hofmann’s summer school in Massachusetts and studied Dynamic Symmetry with Emil Bisttram in New Mexico. Her work was exhibited in several exhibitions in Canada and abroad, including the “Southern Dominions Exhibition” shown in Africa, Australia and New Zealand (1936-1939); “Artists of the British Empire Overseas” at the Royal Institute Galleries, London (1937); “Contemporary Canadian Painting” in Brazil (1944-1945); and “Canadian Women Artists” at the Riverside Museum, New York (1947). In 1933 she held her first solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Toronto. The same year she became a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters, in which she also served as president in 1939. Influenced by the Group of Seven, McLaughlin’s earliest paintings included landscapes and cityscapes. During the early 1940’s she moved from sculptural patterning and design to a more simplified modern approach, emphasizing strong color and more decorative. In 1983 the Robert McLaughlin Gallery circulated a major retrospective of her work in Ontario. Her work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada; Art Gallery of Ontario; Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston; the McMichael Conservation Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario; and numerous public and private collections across Canada. Her collection is part of the Robert McLaughlin Gallery.
Media used
Painting
Watercolour
Education
Ontario College of Art & Design (formerly Ontario School of Art) (under Arthur Lismer and Yvonne McKague)
Hans Hofmann's Summer School, Provincetown
Scandinavian Academy, Paris, 1930 - ?
Memberships
Canadian Group of Painters, 1933
File & Archive locations
National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
Queen's University Archives, ON
Archives of Ontario
Artexte Information Centre, QC - Documentation Centre
Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
Hamilton Public Library, ON - Local History and Archives Department
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, QC
University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
Vancouver Art Gallery, BC - Library
Winnipeg Art Gallery, MA - Clara Lander Library
Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, ON
Robert McLaughlin Gallery Archives, ON
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
Legacies: Teri Donovan, Alexandra Luke, Gwen MacGregor, Isabel Mclaughlin Oshawa, ON: Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2017
"Art Exhibit Discussed: Private Showing Given Members of Windsor Association." Windsor Star 1 Dec. 1942
"Exhibition of Art by Canadian Women." Canadian Art 4.2 (Feb-Mar. 1947): 80
"Exhibition of the Canadian Group of Painters." Canadian Art (Jan-Feb. 1948): 142
"Femmes peintres canadiennes." Le Devoir (Montreal) 23 Mar. 1948: 6
"Isabel McLaughlin Exhibits New York." Mail and Empire (Toronto) 15 Feb. 1933
"McLaughlin, Isabel Grace." Toronto Star 28 Nov. 2002: B7
"Modernistic Touch Features "One-Man" Exhibit At Art Gallery." Telegram (Toronto) 17 Feb. 1933
"Oil Paintings Now on Display Here." Times-Globe (Saint John) 2 Nov. 1943: G1
"Paintings Show Color, Rhythm: Contrast Appreciated and Used by Isabel McLaughlin." Telegram (Toronto) 17 Feb. 1933
"Spring Exhibition Marked by Variety." Gazette (Montreal) 10 Mar. 1939
"With Trilliums in Her Hair." Canadian Art 4.4 (Summer 1947): 147-8
“Art and Artists.” Globe (Toronto) 15 Feb. 1933
Ayre, Robert. "Art News and Reviews: Exhibition of 'Art of Our Day' By Contemporary Arts Society Found Haunting and Significant." Standard (Montreal) 12 Jul. 1940: 7
Ayre, Robert. "Art of Our Day in Canada." Toronto Saturday Night (25 Jan. 1941): 25
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
Canadian Group of Painters. Canadian Group of Painters, 1945-1946 Toronto: Art Gallery of Toronto, 1945
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 1960 Montreal: 1960
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
Daniel, Pierre. "Peintres canadiens." La Presse (Montreal) 14 Mar. 1942: 33
Duval, Paul. Canadian Impressionism Toronto: Clarke, Irwin and Co, 1972
Findley, Timothy. “Comparing Notes.” Canadian Art 2.2 (Summer 1985)
Galleries of J. Merritt Malloney. Exhibition Catalogue. 4 Jan. 1936
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
Labedan, Julien. "Les Arts: Peintres canadiens contemporains à la Galérie des Arts." Le Canada (Montreal) 12 Feb. 1948
Lauder, Adam. "Vorticulturalism: Canadian Women Vorticists." Border Crossings 33.1 (2014): 59-64
Lismer, Arthur. "Works by Three Canadian Women." Montreal Star 9 May 1934
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
McInnes, G. Campbell. "Review." Saturday Night (24 Apr. 1937)
McInnes, G. Campbell. “World of Art.” Saturday Night (18 Jan. 1936): 4
Milroy, Sarah, ed. Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Movement Vancouver: Figure 1, 2021
Murray, Joan. An Extraordinary Life: Isabel McLaughlin. Oshawa: The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2003
Murray, Joan. Isabel McLaughlin: Recollections. Oshawa: The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 1983
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. Canadian Women Artists, Exhibition 1982 New York: Riverside Museum, 1982
National Council of Women of Canada. Femmes peintres canadiennes: Expositions présentée par le conseil national des femmes canadiennes 1947
National Gallery of Canada. Exhibition of Contemporary Canadian Painting Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1936
Nicol, Pegi. "The Passionate Snow of Yesteryear." The Canadian Forum 16.183 (April 1936): 21.
Ontario Association of Architects. Catalogue of the Fourth Biennial Exhibition of Architecture and Allied Arts, By the Members of the Toronto Chapter of the Ontario Association of Architects, Exhibitions by Young Canadians. Toronto: Art Gallery of Toronto, 1933

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