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Artist Database

MUNN, Kathleen

Born
Toronto, Ontario, 1887
Died
Toronto, Ontario, 1974
Biography synopsis
Kathleen Jean Munn studied at the Westbourne School in Toronto with F. McGillivray Knowles, and in 1915 and 1916 at the Art Students League School in Woodstock, New York, with Max Weber, Boardman Robinson and Andrew Dasburg. She also studied briefly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1915. In 1909 she began to exhibit publicly at the Ontario Society of Artists and the Royal Canadian Academy, and at the Canadian National Exhibition. In 1914 she won first prize at the Art Students League Summer School in Woodstock, New York. She attended discussions hosted by Bertram Brooker. She was interested in Cubism and she is credited with introducing Post-Impressionism to Canada, but her work was often met with incomprehension. Her work is at the Art Gallery of Ontario and in a number of private collections.
Media used
Drawing
Painting
Education
Art Students' League, New York, 1923 - 1926 (under Max Weber; Boardman Robinson; Andrew Dasburg)
Westbourne School, Toronto, 1904 - 1907 (under F. McGillivray Knowles)
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1915 - ?
File & Archive locations
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
University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
Vancouver Art Gallery, BC - Library
Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Writings about
"Art Works On View Set High Standard: Thirty-Eighth Annual Exhibition of Royal Canadian Academy Is Opened." Gazette (Montreal) 17 Nov. 1916
"Beaux-Arts: Le Salon d'Automne à la Galérie des Arts." Le Devoir (Montreal) 26 Nov. 1915
"Kathleen Munn and Edna Tacon: New Perspectives on Canadian Painting, at the Art Gallery of York University." Globe and Mail (Toronto) 5 Nov. 1988: C17
"Much Good Work at R.C.A. Exhibition: Thirty-Fifth Annual Show Comprises Interesting Pictures by Local Artists." Gazette (Montreal) 21 Nov. 1913: 5
"Pictures Shown by Miss Munn." Star (Toronto) 20 May 1913: 12
"Royal Canadian Academy Exhibition has Work by Artists Now at Front." Gazette (Montreal) 19 Nov. 1915
"Work of Women." Telegram (Toronto) 3 Apr. 1911: 17
Barnard, Elissa. "Show Sheds Glorious Light on Efforts of Two Important Artists." Mail-Star (Halifax) 24 Mar. 1990
Bradfield, Helen Pepall. Art Gallery of Ontario: The Canadian Collection Toronto: McGraw-Hill, 1970
D. & E. Lake Limited. Kathleen Munn Exhibition, March 24 - April 20th, 1997 Toronto: D. & E. Lake Limited, 1997
Duncan, Ann. "Avant-Garde Artists Were Too Quickly Forgotten." Gazette (Montreal) 11 Mar. 1989: H4
Dyas, A.E. "Women's Work at the Exhibition." Toronto Saturday Night 7 Sept. 1912: 29, 36
Getty, Cassandra and Adam Lauder. The Logic of Nature, the Romance of Space : Elements of Canadian Modernist Painting /La Logique de la nature, l'idylle de l'espace : éléments de la peinture moderniste canadienne Windsor, Ont.: Art Gallery of Windsor, 2010
Hanna, Deirdre. "New Perspectives on Art Hierarchies." Now (Toronto) 27 Oct. 1988
Harper, J. Russell. Painting in Canada: A History Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1966, 2nd edition 1977
Helwig, K., E. Moffatt, M Corbeil, and D. Duguay. "Early Twentieth-Century Artists’ Paints in Toronto: Archival and Material Evidence." Journal of the Canadian Association for Conservation 40 (2015): 19-34
Housser, Frederick B. "The Amateur Movement in Canadian Painting." Yearbook of the Arts in Canada, 1928-1929 Toronto: Macmillan, 1929
Hume, Christopher. "Forgotten Female Artists Finally Recognized." Star (Toronto) 21 Oct. 1988: E23
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
MacKay, Mary. "Exhibition Revives Forgotten Abstracts." Windsor Star 9 Dec. 1988: 139
MacTavish, Newton. Ars Longa Toronto: The Ontario Publishing Co., 1925
MacTavish, Newton. The Fine Arts in Canada Toronto: Macmillan, 1925
Milroy, Sarah, ed. Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Movement Vancouver: Figure 1, 2021
Nasgaard, Roald. Abstract Painting in Canada Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 2008
Newlands, Anne. Canadian Art: From its Beginnings to 2000 Richmond Hill, Ontario: Firefly Books, 2000
Punter, Jennie. "Forgotten Women: Experimenters in Modernism." Whig-Standard (Kingston) 7 Oct. 1989: 1
Robson, Albert Henry. Canadian Landscape Painters Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1932
The Galleries of J. Merritt Mallon. An Exhibition of Drawings by Kathleen Munn, Lemoine Fitzgerald, Bertram Brooker Toronto: J. Merritt Mallon, 1935
Tippett, Maria. By a Lady Toronto: Viking, 1992
Uhlyarik, Georgina. Kathleen Munn: Life and Work Toronto: Art Canada Institute, 2014
http://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/kathleen-munn/
Varley, Christopher. "Bertram Brooker: 'Interiors Within Interiors (Whitman),' and Kathleen Munn: 'Composition'." Update 4.3 (May-Jun. 1983): 14-5
Zemans, Joyce. "A Tale of Three Women: The Visual Arts in Canada, a Current Accounting." RACAR 25.1-2 (1998): 103-22
Zemans, Joyce, Elizabeth Burrell and Elizabeth Hunter. New Perspectives in Modernism in Canada: Kathleen Munn, Edna Taçon Toronto: Art Gallery of York University, 1988

Full text pdfs of exhibition reviews
Art Association of Montreal Annual Spring Exhibition: (Montreal, April 02, 1909) "Exhibition of Art. High Water Mark Reached in This Year's Spring Showing in Art Galleries. Stricter Standard Set."  Gazette (Montreal)  April 03, 1909.  p.9.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Montreal, November 24, 1910) "Royal Academy of Art Open. Governor-General Reviews the Progress of Art in the Dominion."  Daily Witness (Montreal)  November 25, 1910.  p.4.   Full-text pdf
Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, March 31, 1911) M.L.A.F..  "Women Artists Are Fast Increasing in Numbers. They Total Over a Third of the Exhibitors at the Present Show - Descriptions of Some of the More Notable Canvasses."  Toronto Star  April 07, 1911.  p.10.   Full-text pdf
Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, April 05, 1913) "Ontario Society of Artists."  The Globe (Toronto)  April 05, 1913.  p.10.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Montreal, November 20, 1913) S. Morgan Powell.  "Art Association Exhibition Shows Notable Advance. Artists Manifesting Determination to Get Away from Deadly Routine."  Montreal Star  November 20, 1913.  p.10.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Montreal, November 20, 1913) Henri Fabien.  "L'Academie Royale."  Le Devoir (Montreal)  December 06, 1913.  p.2.   Full-text pdf
Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, March 03, 1915) M.L.A.F..  "Art Exhibition. New Pictures at the Art Gallery-Ontario Society of Artists Exhibits."  Toronto Star  March 12, 1915.  p.10.   Full-text pdf
Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, March 03, 1915) Irene B. Wrenshall.  "Toronto."  American Art News  March 20, 1915.  13.24: p.6.   Full-text pdf
Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, March 03, 1915) Irene B. Wrenshall.  "Toronto."  American Art News  April 10, 1915.  13.27: p.7.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Montreal, November 18, 1915) "Martial Note in Pictures Shown. Royal Canadian Academy Exhibition Has Work by Artists Now at Front."  Gazette (Montreal)  November 19, 1915.  p.9.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Montreal, November 18, 1915) "Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Open Galleries. 288 Fine Pictures on Exhibition at 37th Annual Exhibition."  Montreal Herald  November 19, 1915.  p.5.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Montreal, November 18, 1915) S. Morgan-Powell.  "Exhibition is Here for Month. Some Attractive Works Along Interesting Lines are Hung. Frames Show an Improvement. Several Artists Manifest Determination to Break from Tradition."  Montreal Star  November 22, 1915.  p.2.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Montreal, November 18, 1915) Henri Fabien.  "Beaux-arts. Le salon d'automne à la galerie des arts."  Le Devoir (Montreal)  November 26, 1915.  p.1.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Montreal, November 16, 1916) "Art Works on View Set High Standard."  Gazette (Montreal)  November 17, 1916.  p.7.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Montreal, November 16, 1916) E.B..  "Over Three Hundred Pictures Displayed at the Art Gallery. First Notice."  Montreal Herald  November 17, 1916.  p.8.   Full-text pdf
Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, March 01, 1917) "Many Fine Paintings at O.S.A. Exhibition."  The Globe (Toronto)  March 10, 1917.  p.21.   Full-text pdf
Ontario Society of Artists Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, March 01, 1917) Hector Charlesworth.  "Good Pictures at O.S.A. Exhibition."  Toronto Saturday Night  March 24, 1917.  p.2.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, November 22, 1923) "Work of Canadian Painters at Royal Academy of Arts is of Satisfactory Quality."  Globe (Toronto)  November 14, 1923.  p.14.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, November 22, 1923) Hector Charlesworth.  "Royal Canadian Academy. Probably the Finest Display in its History With Montreal Much to the Fore."  Toronto Saturday Night  December 01, 1923.  p.5.   Full-text pdf
Royal Canadian Academy Annual Exhibition: (Toronto, November 22, 1923) "Contrasted Styles in Canadian Art."  Mail and Empire (Toronto)  December 26, 1923.  p.5.   Full-text pdf

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