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BROWN, Annora

Born
Fort Macleod, Alberta, 1899
Died
Deep Cove, British Columbia, 1987
Biography synopsis
Mary Annora Brown was born in Fort Macleod, Alberta in 1899. As a young woman she attended the Ontario College of Art, where she studied with the Group of Seven members Arthur Lismer and J.E.H. MacDonald. After completing her studies she began teaching at Mount Royal College, Calgary in 1929, and returned to Fort MacLeod in 1931. There she did fieldwork in handicrafts for the Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta. Between 1945 and 1950, Brown taught at the Banff School of Fine Arts. Influenced by her studies with members of the Group of Seven at the Ontario College of Art, Brown broke with the conservative nature of art in the region. Working in Fort MacLeod and throughout the foothills, she was influenced by the landscape, people, and flowers that surrounded her. In 1955 Brown published “Old Man’s Garden,” which recorded the legends of the Old Man River and she also illustrated a number of children's books. As a result of her extensive knowledge of floral life in Alberta, Brown was commissioned by the Glenbow Foundation to create two hundred flower paintings. Throughout her career she exhibited with the Art Association of Montreal, the Canadian Society of Artists, and the Ontario Society of Artists, she was also the first female member of the Alberta Society of Artists. Annora Brown passed away in 1987.
Media used
Graphic design
Painting
Watercolour
Education
Ontario College of Art & Design (formerly Ontario School of Art) (under Arthur Lismer; J.E.H. MacDonald)
Memberships
Alberta Society of Artists
Calgary Sketch Club
Lethbridge Sketch Club
File & Archive locations
University of Calgary Library, AB
Vancouver Art Gallery, BC - Library
Winnipeg Art Gallery, MA - Clara Lander Library
National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, QC
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, QC - Media Centre
Glenbow Archives, AB - Main Catalogue
University of Alberta Archives
Calgary Public Library, AB - Arts Department
Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
Canadian Museum of Civilization Archives, QC
University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
Trent University Archives, ON
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
"Alberta Artists." The Globe and Mail 10 Mar. 1937: 14
"Annora Brown - Noted Artist was Trained by Lismer." Globe and Mail (Toronto) 28 Feb. 1987
Alderson, Patricia. Annora Brown: Forming a Regionalist Sensibility Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary, 2005
Cook, Sharon Anne, et al., eds. Framing Our Past: Canadian Women's History in the 20th Century Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001
Hunt, J. Doris. "Annora Brown of Fort MacLeod." Canadian Woman Studies 1.3 (1979): 91-93
http://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/view/14561/13613
Hunt, J. Doris. "The Art of Annora Brown AOCA." Canadian Review of Music and Art 3.11-12 (Dec-Jan.) 1944-45: 27-29
Laviolette, Mary-Beth. A Delicate Art: Artists, Wildflowers and Native Plants of the West Vancouver: Rocky Mountain Books, 2012
LaViolette, Mary-Beth. Alberta Mistresses of the Modern, 1935-1975 Edmonton: Art Gallery of Alberta, 2012
Milroy, Sarah, ed. Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Movement Vancouver: Figure 1, 2021
Norbury, F.M.. "Alberta Pictures to Tour Dominion.” Edmonton Journal 07 Jan. 1946: 5
Reichwein, P. and K. Wall. Uplift: Visual Culture at the Banff School of Fine Arts Banff: Banff School of Fine Arts, 2020
Render, Lorne E. Glenbow Collects: An Exhibition. Calgary: Glenbow-Alberta Art Gallery, 1969
Ring House Gallery. Annora Brown - Sketches from Life: An Exhibition Held in Celebration of the Publication of Autobiography. Calgary: Glenbow Museum, 1982
Rodenburg, Mieke. Two Hundred Wildflowers: Annora Brown’s Botanical Watercolours, Scientific Illustration, and Conservationism in Alberta. Kingston, Ontario: Queen's University, MA thesis, 2017
Rodenburg, Mieke. "Annora Brown's Alberta Wildflowers." Queens' Quarterly 124.2 (Summer, 2017): 226
Rozuma, Molly. ""Old Woman Who Never Dies" and Old Mans Garden." Grasslands Grown: Creating Place on the U.S. Northern Plains and Canadian Prairies Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2021
Townshend, Nancy. A History of Art in Alberta, 1905-1970 Calgary, Alberta: Bayeux, 2005
Wells, Oliver N. and Richard and Marie Wheeden. Edenbank: The History of a Canadian Pioneer Farm. Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2003
Zimon, Kathy E. Alberta Society of Artists: The First Seventy Years Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2000

Writings by
Brown, Annora. Flowers of Alberta. Calgary: Glenbow-Alberta Institute, 1974
Brown, Annora. Old Man's Garden. Ottawa: Algrove, 2000
Brown, Annora. Sketches from Life. Edmonton: Hurtig, 1981
Brown, Annora. "Prairie Totems." Canadian Geographical Journal Ottawa: Royal Canadian Geographical Society, 23 (3 Sept 1941): 148-151
M., Olive and Clara Tyner; Illustrated by Annora Brown. Totem, Tipi and Tumpline : Stories of Canadian Indians. Toronto and Vancouver: J.M. Dent, 1962
Ricker, Donalda, et al.; illustrated by Annora Brown. Proud Procession: Canadian Parade Readers. Toronto and Vancouver: J.M. Dent and Sons, 1954
Stephen, Pamela; illustrated by Annora Brown. Winged Canoes at Nootka. Toronto and Vancouver: J.M. Dent, 1955

Full text pdfs of exhibition reviews
Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, March 20, 1931) "Art Association 48th Spring Show High In Interest."  Gazette (Montreal)  March 21, 1931.  p.16.   Full-text pdf
Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, March 21, 1935) "Spring Exhibition of Art Association Opened on Thursday."  Montreal Star  March 22, 1935.  p.17.   Full-text pdf
Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, March 19, 1936) "Spring Exhibition on Generous Scale. Show at Art Gallery Opened Last Night Contains 621 Items."  Gazette (Montreal)  March 20, 1936.  p.2.   Full-text pdf
Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, March 19, 1936) "Annual Spring Exhibition at Art Association."  Montreal Star  March 20, 1936.  p.8.   Full-text pdf
Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, March 18, 1937) "Nearly 500 Works at Spring Exhibit. Art Association's 54th Annual Show Opens with Private Views. Judges Open-Minded."  Gazette (Montreal)  March 19, 1937.  p.13,17.   Full-text pdf
Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, March 18, 1937) "The Spring Exhibition of the Art Association."  Montreal Star  March 19, 1937.  p.17.   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

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