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MITCHELL, Janet
- Born
- Medicine Hat, Alberta, 1912
- Died
- Calgary, Alberta, 1998
- Biography synopsis
- For the most part a self-taught artist, Janet Mitchell studied at night at the Institute of Technology and Art, Calgary and attended summer workshops at the Banff School of Fine Arts. She studied with Gordon Smith in Jasper and also attended the Emma Lake workshops in Saskatchewan in1960. She was mainly a watercolorist but also worked in oil. She was initially influenced by the landscapes of the Group of Seven as well as Emily Carr's work and later by Paul Klee and Marc Chagall whose works she viewed in New York in 1950. Mitchell exhibited in the 1948 "Calgary Group" exhibition, considered to be one of the first modernist painting exhibitions in Alberta. From 1949 she exhibited in a number of solo exhibitions in Calgary and Toronto. In 1962, she retired from her government job to devote herself to her art. Her work is held at the National Gallery of Canada as well as in some university collections. She was a member of the Alberta Society of Artists and Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour.
- Media used
- Painting
- Watercolour
- Education
- Banff School of Fine Arts, 1942 - ?
- University of Saskatchewan, 1961 - ?
- Calgary Institute of Technology and Art
- Memberships
- Alberta Society of Artists, 1945, 47, 50-52, 57, 61, 67-68, 71-98
- Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour
- Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
- Calgary Group
- File & Archive locations
- Vancouver Public Library, BC - Fine Arts and History Department
- Alberta Culture and Community Spirit - Arts Branch
- Art Gallery of Ontario - Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives
- Artexte Information Centre, QC - Documentation Centre
- Calgary Public Library, AB - Arts Department
- Edmonton Art Gallery, AB - Library
- London Public Library, ON
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, QC
- Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, QC - Media Centre
- National Gallery of Canada, ON - Library and Archives
- University of Calgary Library, AB
- Vancouver Art Gallery, BC - Library
- Winnipeg Art Gallery, MA - Clara Lander Library
- Canadian Women Artists History Initiative Documentation Centre, QC
- Glenbow Archives, AB - Main Catalogue
- University of British Columbia - Fine Arts Library
- Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, ON
- Esplanade Archives, Medicine Hat, AB
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writings about- 3rd International Contemporary Art Exhibition 1957: Delhi, Ahmedebad, Hyderabad, Calcutta, and Amritsar New Delhi: Fine Arts and Crafts Society, 1957
- Exhibition and Sale of Works by Leading Canadian Artists from Coast to Coast Ottawa: National Council of Jewish Women of Canada, 1962
- Armstrong, Peggy. Janet Mitchell, Life and Art Winnipeg: Hyperion Press, 1990
- Baker, Suzanne Devonshire. Artists of Alberta Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1980
- Cochran, Bente Roed. "The Alberta Visual Arts Scene." Visual Arts Newsletter 3.1 (Winter 1981): 3-15
- Glenbow Museum. Janet Mitchell: A Retrospective Exhibition Calgary: Glenbow Museum, 1977
- Greenberg, Clement. "Clement Greenberg's View of Art on the Prairies." Canadian Art 20.2 (1984): 96
- Heller, Jules and Nancy. North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century New York: Garland, 1995
- Hubbard, R. H. The National Gallery of Canada Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture Ottawa: Published for the Trustees by University of Toronto Press, 1957
- LaViolette, Mary-Beth. Alberta Mistresses of the Modern, 1935-1975 Edmonton: Art Gallery of Alberta, 2012
- Laviolette, Mary-Beth. "The Alberta Foundation for the Arts Collection." Artichoke 13.2 (Summer 2001): 16-23
- 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. Janet Mitchell R.C.A.: A Celebration of Her Life and Art Calgary: Masters Gallery, 1999
- McMullen, W.B. Alberta Art: Works from The Alberta Art Foundation Edmonton: Alberta Art Foundation, 1975
- National Gallery of Canada. First Biennial Exhibition of Canadian Painting, 1955 Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1955
- Reichwein, P. and K. Wall. Uplift: Visual Culture at the Banff School of Fine Arts Banff: Banff School of Fine Arts, 2020
- Simpson, Jim. "Variety in Form highlights Exhibition: Exhibition by Women Artists." Edmonton Journal 17 Jan. 1979
- Twardowski, Astrid. "Janet Mitchell at the Calgary Allied Arts Centre." Canadian Art 20 (1963): 205
- Zimon, Kathy E. Alberta Society of Artists: The First Seventy Years Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2000
