Great Artists
Emily Carr
Along with the Group of Seven, Emily Carr (1871-1945) was a leading figure in Canada's first modern art movement. She is now considered one of the country's best-known artists, and she has gained international acclaim, but during her lifetime she struggled to be noticed, giving up art completely at times and gaining traction only in her 50s.
[Art credit: "Above the Gravel Pit" by Emily Carr, 1937, Art Canada Institute]
Carr was influenced by competing forces, including the modernism she learned in her formal art studies in France, and more importantly, the art and culture of the Indigenous peoples that she came to know and respect on the West Coast of Canada.
She sought to portray the spiritual and elemental forces she witnessed in both the people and the landscape of British Columbia. Her hope was to empower the people through her art and to document what she saw as a disappearing culture. Long after her death in 1945, her work drew criticism for having a colonial perspective, however, in recent years, she has gained an international following for her trailblazing and sophisticated art.
Carr suffered many frustrations in her life as she tried to gain acceptance as a female artist in a predominantly male profession. But she was resilient, original, and courageous, and she pushed on. Today, she is considered one of the most influential artists in Canada.
Find out more: "Emily Carr: Life and Work" by Lisa Baldiserra, Art Canada Institute