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ARMINGTON, Caroline

Born
Brampton, Ontario, 1875
Died
New York, United States, 1939
Biography synopsis
Caroline Helena Wilkinson Armington took Saturday painting classes in Toronto with J.W.L. Forster. By 1892 she was supporting herself with her art practice, but as well as being an artist she also trained at Guelph General Hospital as a nurse. Following her graduation she moved to New York, where she practiced nursing. Upon her return to Toronto in 1899 she worked as a private nurse for a year, then departed for Paris, where she married Frank Armington. The couple returned to Toronto, and in 1901 moved first to Sault Ste Marie, and then to Winnipeg. There, Armington gave private painting lessons and taught at Havergal College. In 1905 they returned to Paris where Armington studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and the Académie Julian with Henri Royer, E. Schommer and Paul Gervais. Armington began etching in 1908 and in 1910 and 1911 the National Gallery of Canada purchased three of her works. She returned again to Canada and was given a commission by the Canadian Pacific Railway to produce a series of etchings. She traveled to Italy and Algeria, returning to Paris in 1914 at the outbreak of World War One. During the War, Armington was commissioned by Lord Beaverbrook to do etchings for the Canadian War Memorials Collection. In 1924, she toured the United States and returned to Europe in 1934-1935.
Media used
Painting
Printmaking
Education
Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Paris, 1905
Académie Julian, Paris, 1905 (under Henri Royer; E. Schommer; Paul Gervais)
Private study (under J.W.L. Forster)
File & Archive locations
Winnipeg Art Gallery, MA - Clara Lander Library
Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, ON
National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
Toronto Reference Library, ON
Archives of Ontario
Vancouver Art Gallery, BC - Library
University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
Provincial Archives of Manitoba
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, QC
National Art Library, UK - Victoria and Albert Museum
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
Canadian War Memorials Exhibition, New York. Ottawa: The Exhibition, 1919
"A Canadian Artist in Paris." Globe (Toronto) 27 Aug. 1910: 4
"A couple of artists from Ontario find fame and fortune in Paris." Toronto Daily Star 14 Apr. 1990: M4
"American Etches Rouen Cathedral." Art News (New York) 19 Jan. 1924: 1
"Bayeux Cathedral." Brooklyn Life (New York) 69. 1780 (24 May 1924): 20
"Canadian Etcher Dies at New York." Star (Toronto) 26 Oct. 1939
"City Hall, Stockholm." American Magazine of Art 21 (Jan. 1930): 46
"Etcher and Painter Hold Joint Exhibit in Detroit." Detroit News 14 Feb. 1926
"Honor to Canadian Painter: French Government Buys Landscape by Caroline Armington." Toronto Saturday Night (12 May 1923)
"Le Carnet des Arts : Exposition Caroline Armington." Comoedia (Paris) 27 Feb. 1923
"Mr. and Mrs. Frank Milton Armington Are Preparing to Make Another Etching and Painting Tour in Algeria." New York Herald (Paris) 2 Nov. 1913
"Museums AAM Spring Exhibition." Herald (Montreal) 1 Apr. 1910
"State Art Purchases." Daily Mail (Paris) 10 Mar. 1923
"World Famous as Etcher Caroline Armington Dead." Toronto Daily Star 26 Oct. 1939
Artists Return from Paris to Exhibit Work Here." Toronto Daily Star 3 Dec. 1929
Adeney, Jeanne. "Art Notes." Canadian Bookman 12.1 (Jan. 1930): 7
American Federation of the Arts. American Art Annual, 1901. New York: American Art Annual Company, 1901
Art Gallery of Toronto. Catalogue of an Exhibition of French Paintings & Sculpture from the Kraushaar Galleries, New York, & Private Collections: Paintings and Drawings by F. M. Armington: Etchings by Caroline Armington. Toronto: 1929
Baele, Nancy. "The Grand Tour in Etchings." Citizen (Ottawa) 30 Dec. 1983
Benezit, Emmanuel. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs et graveurs Paris: Librairie Grund, 1976
Boyanoski, Christine. A Century of Printmaking in Canada: A selection of prints from the Canadian Historical Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1986
Boyanoski, Christine. Staffage to Centre Stage: The figure in Canadian art: a selection of recently acquired works on paper from the Canadian Historical Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, c.1989
Braide, Janet and Nancy Parke-Taylor. Caroline and Frank Armington: Canadian Painter-Etchers in Paris. Brampton, Ontario: Region of Peel Art Gallery, 1989
Brockman, A. McKenzie. Caroline (1875-1939) and Frank (1876-1941) Armington. Montreal: Montreal Print Collectors Society, 1985?
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
Canadian War Records Office. Catalogue of War Etchings by Cyril H. Barraud, Gerard De Witt and Caroline H. Armington, and Drypoints by Gyrth Russell. London: Canadian War Records Office, 1919
Cann, Louise Gebhard. "L'oeuvre de Caroline Armington et de Frank M. Armington." Art et Les Artistes 45 (Jun. 1927): 302-306
Corcoran Gallery. Special Exhibition of Etchings and Small Paintings by Caroline Armington of Paris. Washington, D.C: 1924
Dickie, Francis. "Montparnasse - Heart of the Artistic World." Western Home Monthly (Winnipeg) (Mar. 1932)
Durand-Ruel Galleries. Paintings by Frank M. Armington and Etchings by Caroline Armington of Paris. New York: 1929
Galerie Javal et Bourdeaux. La Graveur Original en Noir, Société Internationale: Eau-Forte, Graveur Sur Bois, Lithographie, Pointe Sèche: Dix-huitième Exposition du 1 au 15 Mars 1930. Paris, France: 1930
Galeries Simonson. Tableaux par Caroline Armington. Paris: Galeries Simonson, 1923
Heller, Jules and Nancy. North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century New York: Garland, 1995
Hennok Galleries. Canadian Etchers In Paris: Caroline and Frank Armington: A Retrospective Exhibition and Sale. Toronto: 1992
Hoffmann-Eugene. "Petites Expositions." Journal Des Arts (Paris) 28 Feb. 1923
Lang, Kurt and Gladys Engel. Etched in Memory: The Building and Survival of Artistic Reputation. Chicago: University of Illinois, 2001
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
Masters Gallery. Paris Exposition: C. Armington, Frank M. Armington. Calgary: 1999
McTavish, David. Canadian Artists in Venice, 1830-1930: 18 February-1 April 1984, Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Kingston: Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 1984
Panama-Pacific International Exhibition. Official Catalogue of the Department of Fine Arts: Panama-Pacific International Exposition San Francisco: The Wahlgreen Company, 1915
Parslow, John. "A Great Women Artist." Atlantique (Paris) 21 Dec. 1929
Perrot. "A Royal Doll's House." American Women's Club of Paris (Jul. 1923)
Perry, Millicent A. "The Armingtons of Paris and Toronto." Toronto Star Weekly 31 Mar. 1928
Ralston Gallery. Exhibition of Paintings and Etchings by Caroline Armington of Paris. 1925
Read, Helen Appleton. "Caroline Armington Holds First New York Exhibition." Brooklyn Daily Eagle (New York) 20 Apr. 1924
Roberts, Wilfred. "The City of Two Gates." Paris Review 2-15.31,15 (Apr. 1921): 5-8, 25-6
Robson, Albert Henry. Canadian Landscape Painters Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1932
Sandringham's Gallery. Canadian Etchers 1910-1935: Frank M. Armington, Caroline Armington, E. L. Laur, Frederick B. Taylor. Ottawa: 1982
Tippett, Maria. By a Lady Toronto: Viking, 1992
Tunnell, Arthur L. and Charles G.D. Roberts, eds. Canadian Who Was Who, 1875-1933 Toronto: Trans Canada Press, 1938
Wetherell, Margaret. "France Adopts a Canadian Etcher." Toronto Saturday Night (6 Apr. 1929)

Writings by
Armington, Caroline H. Twelve Little Views of Paris. Paris: Bishop and Garrett, 1921

Full text pdfs of exhibition reviews
Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, April 05, 1910) St. G. B..  "Art and Artists."  Montreal Herald  April 09, 1910.  p.9.   Full-text pdf

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