Going British and Being Modern in the Visual Art Systems of Canada, 1906-1976
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GOING BRITISH AND BEING MODERN IN THE VISUAL ART SYSTEMS OF CANADA, 1906-1976 by Sarah A. Stanners A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Art University of Toronto © Copyright by Sarah A. 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While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. •+l Canada Abstract Going British and Being Modern in the Visual Art Systems of Canada, 1906-1976 Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Sarah A. Stanners Department of Art, University of Toronto Between 1906 and 1976, Canada looked to Great Britain as a model for modernity in the visual arts. 'Going British' and 'Being Modern' - which is an inversion of Paul Nash's 1932 investigation of whether an artist could 'Go Modern' while 'Being British' - is described in relation to Canada's visual art systems, namely the processes of art collecting, dealing, and the self-fashioning of the artist in the 20th century. Evidence for the impulse to modernize via British precedents is primarily sought through an analysis of three collections of British art in Canadian art institutions: the Massey Collection of English Painting at the National Gallery, and the founding collections of the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. The Art Gallery of Ontario is discussed in relation to its history of foreign art advisement. Anthony Blunt and Alfred Barr, Jr. are explored as representatives of British and American cultural authorities respectively. Finally, artists Jack Bush and Henry Moore are treated as case studies in mapping the shift in Canada from receiving primarily British cultural influences to the dominance of American art as the model to emulate after mid century. Near the end of the period examined, in the 1970s, an international profile in the arts becomes most attractive to all three nations. Social history, historiography and biography are used as methods to ii approach this topic. The lives that intersect throughout this illustration of the history of AngloModem influence in modern Canada (from British to American) include: Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Lord Beaverbrook, Anthony Blunt, Jack Bush, Wyndham Lewis, Vincent Massey, Marshall McLuhan, Henry Moore, Jerrold Morris, and Henry Stone. An epilogue shows how Simon Starling's work manifests the nature of Henry Moore's relationship to Toronto and reflects on the import of Britishness to Canadian culture. in Acknowledgements I wrote this dissertation for my parents, my husband and my daughter. Aaron and Josephine, you kept me going and smiling, thank you. My biggest debt of gratitude is to my mentor, and supervisor, Mark Cheetham, whose support has been unshakable. I aspire to be the kind of teacher he is. It has been an honour to also have Dennis Reid and Barbara Fischer on my committee, they both inspired and enabled me to curate Canadian art. Thank you to Elizabeth Legge for her continued encouragement. I also owe much to Sarah Parsons for her most generous help with the Beaverbrook material and for her inspirational enthusiasm. There are many librarians, archivists and registrars behind this dissertation, all of which have been so valuable and helpful to my research, and kind with their permissions. A very special thanks to everyone at the E.P. Taylor Research Library and Archives at the AGO, especially Donald Ranee, Larry Pfaff, Randall Speller, Blythe Koreen, Amy Furness, and Karen McKenzie. Thanks to archivist Cyndie Campbell at the National Gallery of Canada, Cheryl Siegel and Lynn Brockington at the Vancouver Art Gallery Library, Laura Ritchie at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Michael Phipps, Emma Stower and everyone at the Henry Moore Foundation, Elizabeth Ennion at the King's College Archive in Cambridge, the good people at the Museum of Modern Art Archives, the New York Public Library, the Metro Toronto Reference Library, Margaret English and Larry at the Department of Art Library (University of Toronto), the Tate Library and Archive, the Carl A. Kroch Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections at Cornell, and my librarian friend Adam Lauder, who provided good incentives to get my research going on Marshall McLuhan and Wyndham Lewis. Thanks also to Cassandra Getty at the Art Gallery of Windsor, and the other curators that helped me in countless ways, such as iv Judi Schwartz, Graham Larkin, Annabelle Kienle, Alan Wilkinson, Helena Reckitt, Anita Feldman, David Mitchinson and especially Michael Parke-Taylor. Thank you also to the Reis family on Hope Street, who gave me the time and peace of mind to work. For making it all financially possible, I want to express my sincere thanks to the Ontario government's Ontario Graduate Scholarship, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Hon. H.N.R. Jackman and his Chancellor Jackman Graduate Student Fellowship, the Department of Art and the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto. Special thanks are also owed the Henry Moore Institute and to the Henry Moore Foundation for assistance, access, and accommodations in Perry Green and Leeds, and for getting me to Helsinki. Thank you to the Didrichsen Art Museum for their support and encouragement. I am grateful to the Didrichsens for introducing me to Viljo Revell's daughter, Tuula Fleming. For their permission and thoughtful sharing, I thank my wonderful interviewees Sir Anthony Caro, John Morris, William Withrow, Simon Starling, and David Silcox. Malcolm Woodward and Linda Milrod also deserve thanks for speaking with me about the Transformation AGO project. For opening the door onto a fuller picture of the artist and Canadian art history, great thanks are owed to the Jack Bush Estate and Terry Bush in particular for granting me access to the diaries of Jack Bush. Many thanks are owed to David and Audrey Mirvish for introducing me to so much wonderful art, and for their confidence-inspiring interest in my research. Thanks also to Eleanor Johnston for her support of my scholarship. Thanks to Betty Jarvis for her friendship and conversations on art and Alan Jarvis. Special thanks go to Simon Starling for being genuinely interested and generous, and for inspiring my future research. v Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1 - Presenting an English Collection to Canada, and Beyond: The Massey Collection of English Painting at the National Gallery of Canada 26 Chapter 2 - The British Foundations of Two Founding Collections: The Vancouver Art Gallery (est. 1931) & the Beaverbrook Art Gallery (est. 1959) 50 Chapter 3 - From Blunt to Barr: The Shift in Cultural Authority from British to American at the AGO 91 Chapter 4 - Jack Bush - Canada's Shift in Cultural Influence Personified 124 Chapter 5 - The Cultivation of Henry Moore in Toronto 163 Epilogue 189 Figures 201 Bibliography 222 Appendices Appendix A - Sarah Stanners interviews David Silcox 232 Appendix B - Sarah Stanners interviews William Withrow 267 Appendix C - Sarah Stanners interviews John Morris 291 Appendix D - Sarah Stanners interviews Sir Anthony Caro 330 Appendix E - Sarah Stanners interviews Simon Starling 343 VI List of Figures Figure 1 - Simon Starling, Infestation Piece (Musselled Moore), 2006-08 - p. 202 Figure 2 - Paul Nash, Solstice of the Sunflower, 1945 - p. 203 Figure 3 - Stanley Spence, Self Portrait, 1944 - p. 204 Figure 4 - Art on display in a University of New Brunswick classroom, ca. 1955 - p. 205 Figure 5 - Graham Sutherland, LordBeaverbrook, 1951 -p. 206 Figure 6 - Ben Nicholson, Still Life, June 6, 1948, 1948 - p. 207 Figure 7 - Andy Warhol, Elvis I and II, 1964 - p. 208 Figure 8 - Jerrold Morris and Emilio del Junco, Morris International Gallery - p. 209 Figure 9 - Jerrold Morris International Gallery, Toronto, ca. 1964 - p. 210 Figure 10 - Franz Kline, Cupola, 1958-60 - p. 211 Figure 11 - Reading Life at the military camp branch in Exhibition Park, 1939 - p. 212 Figure 12 - Jack Bush, Bonnet, 1961 - p. 213 Figure 13 - Jack Bush, Sumach, 1930 - p. 214 Figure 14 - The Henry Moore Sculpture Centre, AGO, 2008 - p. 215 Figure 15 - Henry Moore, Three Way Piece No.