RAPPORT I REPORT

THE STUDIO BUILDING, 25 SEVERN STREET, TORONTO, ONTARIO

ANDREW WALDRON is an architectural historian >ANDREW WALDRON in the Historical Services Branch of the National

Historic Sites Directorate at Parks Canada

(Gatineau). He has written on a variety of topics

[industrial sites, cultural landscapes, historic districts, modern architecture) for the Federal he Studio Building was designated Heritage Buildings Review Office and the Histor ic Ta national historic site of Canada in Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. He has 2004. The reasons for designation are: it is the earliest purpose-built artist studio in been a member of the Society for the Study Canada representing the visions of a young of Architecture in Canada [SSAC] since 1995 generation of Canadian artists who would and is currently a vice-president on the SSAC's have a professional venue and gathering Executive Board. place to develop a distinctly Canadian art; it is directly associated with the Group of Seven and painter Tom Thomson; it is an example of early twentieth-century mod­ ern architecture in Canada that rejected ornamentation and drew on industrial design; and it is an important studio for many notable Canadian artists since 1913.

INTRODUCTION

Toronto architect Eden Smith designed the Studio Building in 1913 for world­ renowned painter Lawren Harris and Canadian art patron Dr. James MacCallum, as a purpose-built artist studio. It drew on modern ideas in its originality-it was one of the first purpose-built studio spaces in North America-and its functionality as a "warehouse" design. It was a building that emphasized function over stylistic appear­ ance. Eden Smith's modern approach to the building's design was parallel to the direction Canadian art was taking in the 1910s. A new modern style was emerging from the traditional European approach to painting the Canadian landscape, eventu­ ally coalescing as a movement in the 1920s with the formation of the Group of Seven. It was within the Studio Building that this new art would be painted. Canada's early iconic modern artists-including Lawren Harris, Tom Thomson, A .Y. Jackson, and J.E .H. MacDonald-now had studios FIG. 1. STUDIO BUILDING, TORONTO, ONTARIO. CONSTRUCTED 1913-1914. EDEN SMITH, ARCHITECT.I ANDREWWALDRON, PA RKSCAN ADA,2004

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FIG. 3. THE LOCATION OF THE STUDIO BUILDING PROPERTY WITHIN THE RO SEDALE RAVINE. I CITY OF TORONTO, MUN ICIPAL MAP SERIES, 51J·11, MARCH 2003

where they were able to remake the image the east side of the building and smaller made into sleeping quarters for those art­ of the Canadian landscape. Each year the ones on the south and west sides. The ists who made it their home. Underneath artists returned from their trips through 5/12-paned north windows (3 x 4.5 metres the galleries are former sitting areas that northern Canada to the Studio Building in size) have smaller casement windows are now kitchenettes or, in some of the and settled in to complete their bold below and give the building its industrial studios, small bathrooms. 3 Each of the paintings that now hang in art collections character. Its concrete structure is clad in studios on the east side of the building throughout the world. Those artists were red brick with vertical inlaid patterns and has a built-in (non-functioning) fireplace the first of a long line of notable Canadian square geometric patterns. A narrow stone in the corner. Other rooms in the build­ artists who rented out studio space in the cornice runs along the front fa<;ade. ing include a basement apartment, once famous building. Completely intact today, rented out as a photographer's darkroom, the building continues to convey its early Lavish building materials and detailed storage rooms, and additional bathrooms modern aesthetic, its inextricable bond craftsmanship were set aside to create off of the stairwell. with members of the Group of Seven and a simple and functional building for the artists who followed these pioneers, and artists. Such functionalism, which should Surrounding the building is the park set­ its ongoing use as artist studios. be considered a modern approach to ting of the Rosedale Valley (figs. 21-25). Canadian architecture of the period, also Over the decades there have been minor The Studio Building is a three-storey brick­ appears in the layout and design of the changes to the setting and the Studio clad concrete structure that was described studios (figs. 12-20). Two studios are on Building's site has survived intact. On the at the time of construction in 1914 as "a each of the three floors at the building's building's property, there is a small addi­ factory-looking building" (figs. 1-11a).1 Tak­ north side and are accessible by a stairwell tion on the rear, where a patio has been ing advantage of the indirect natural light at the back of the building. 2 The studios are built, as well as a car garage is a separate on the north side of the building, three spacious rooms w ith high ceilings (approxi­ structure on the east side. The steep yard storeys of large windows constructed of mately 9 square metres in size with ceil­ behind the building once included the single-pane glass front the building's prin­ ings 4 metres in height). Each studio has shack in which Tom Thomson, Arthur cipal fa<;ade . There are narrow windows on a small gallery at one end that could be Lismer, and Thoreau MacDonald lived

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According to art historian Frederick Housser, Harris initially wanted to build the studios and "attached to it he planned a little theatre, a combination of a picture gallery and a playhouse where young Canadian playwriters [sic] and painters were to be invited to send their work."9 Harris headed forward with a more mod­ est vision. His hope for a national cultural centre would not materialize until the early 1960s.

Construction of the Studio Building began in late 1913. Harris footed almost all of the building's cost while Dr. MacCallum paid the balance.10 They chose Eden Smith, a fel­ low member of the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto, to design the building.11 Smith was likely chosen as the architect because of his close connection through the men's

FIG. 4. PROPOSED DESIGNATED PLACE FOR THE STUDIO BUILDING HIGHLIGHTED IN GRAY. I CITY OF TORONTO. MUNICIPAL MAP SERIES. club, but he was also likely given the con­ 51J-11, MARCH 2003 tract because he was an architect who had similar ideas to Harris and MacCallum and worked.4 Severn Street is now blocked promoters of this model it was explained of where Canadian art and architecture off from Bloor Street by the TTC (Toronto was the desire to assist in the creation, should head. Transit Commission) subway line (fig. 25). not of what we called merely a national art, but rather of the development of art Eden Smith (1859-1949) was born in Bir- THE STUDIO BUILDING: THE in Canada as differentiated from that of mingham, England, and trained in his VISION AND THE DESIGN Europe." 6 youth as a watercolourist and draftsman. His family immigrated to Canada in 1885, The first impressions when looking at the However, his drive to foster Canadian art was first homesteading in Southern Manitoba Studio Building are its simplicity of design partly inspired by his and J.E.H. MacDonald's before moving to Toronto two years later. and lack of historical style. Indeed, the visit to the exhibit of Scandinavian art held He was hired by the architectural firm of Studio Building is an early modern build­ at the Albright Gallery in Buffalo in January Strickland & Symons and later opened his ing in Canada. The innovation of empha­ 1913. As Harris recalled ofthe exhibit, "Here own practice in 1892.'2 By the late 1890s, sizing function over style and shedding was an art bold, vigorous and uncompromis­ Sm ith was a highly respected Toronto ornament was, for the time, a reflection ing, embodying direct first-hand experience architect who had made a name for him­ of architectural modernism's emergence of the great North." 7 Harris firmly believed self designing homes for Toronto's wealthy in the country. 5 Its modern design espe­ that a centre for young Canadian artists neighbourhoods of Rosedale, Deer Park, cially mirrors the spirit of the painters who would produce a more active and cohesive the Annex, and Wychwood Park. His resided in the building and the inspiring artistic group to develop a new Canadian domestic architecture was rooted in the vision of the determined young Canadian landscape painting drawing on a similar English house, drawing on the vocabu­ painter, Lawren Harris. approach, as had the symbolist Scandinavian laries of Voysey, Shaw, Webb, and other painters. Harris's plan to construct the Studio British architects of the Arts and Crafts Lawren Harris's vision was to build a place Building actually began before his visit to movement. where artists would have a proper space the pivotal show in Buffalo. As early as 1912, for painting a new Canadian art. As he when Harris was only 27 years old, he took Marketing himself in the early years of stated, "One of the main ideas of the out a building permit for the site.• his practice as an "English" architect was

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then rearranged inside to suit a less formal Thus, a modern aesthetic was reflected lifestyle."13 in the building: ornamentation was elimi­ nated and the functional requirements Yet, Smith's design for the Studio Building determined the design. For example, the was much more radical. As Adams further building's windows and orientation were states, the Studio Building "cited examples determined by the requirements of the of European modernism and industrial ver­ artists. Indeed, there was "great difficulty nacular architecture rather than the Arts in finding within the city accommodation and Crafts movement."14 Smith was of the where the much-prized northern light earliest generation of architects searching with all its clearness can be obtained, for for a distinctly Canadian architectural iden­ without such, it is found impossible to tity by adapting English architecture to a place upon the canvas that truth of colour Canadian setting. His adoption of an indus­ which is so highly praised." 15 trial aesthetic for a live-work space was pioneering for work of early twentieth- Eager to finally paint in a suitable space, century Canadian architecture. six artists moved into the building before its completion in March 1914.'"These were:

FIG. 5. FRONT FA~ADE OF THE STUDIO BUILDING.IANDREWWAL· The Studio Building eliminated exterior Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, J. (William) DRON, PARKS CANADA. 2004 ornamentation and historical meaning Beatty, Arthur Heming, Albert Curtis Wil- in favour of an unadorned architecture. liamson, and J.E .H. MacDonald. Of these Eliminating ornament from what was artists, Harris, Jackson, and MacDonald essentially a very unique apartment block would later found the Group of Seven . The design using open lofts (apartment blocks others were a generation older, though started to be built in Toronto in the 1910s), they were sympathetic to the younger the Studio Building was at the leading generation's emerging style. At its comple­ edge of architecture in early twentieth­ tion, the Studio Building reflected Harris's century Canada. Admittedly, the building vision of architecture and art. As one occu­ used traditional materials for its exterior, pant told a reporter from the Toronto including red brick, stone, and plaster, Daily Star, "This is a workshop primarily. but they were applied in an unadorned It is not a place for pink teas or tango, manner. By comparison with a contem­ or anything of that kind. We are here to porary domestic building, such design­ work, and we have the accommodation ing is undeniably plain. Its unembellished that we were longing for years."" design, so different from Smith's previous work, reflects its intention as a home for Those spirited words echoed Harris's intent modern artists. to erect a workshop "for artists doing FIG. 6. EAST BAY OF THE STUDIO BUILDING 'S FRONT FA~ ADE . I distinctly Canadian work." The building's ANDREW WALDRON, PARKS CANADA, 2004 Harris wanted a "workshop for artists functional appearance reflected the doing distinctly Canadian work," and attitude of the artists to live and work evident in the homes he designed for the Smith's modernism was appropriate for together in a building specifically built for picturesque Wychwood Park. However, Harris's intention to develop a new national their requirements. Indeed, Harris's con- by the early twentieth century, Smith had style. Smith's earlier Arts and Crafts homes fidence of creating a new image of the shed his "English cottage style" and had vanished in his design for the Studio Build- Canadian landscape was strong enough begun to promote himself as a Canadian in g. That building was to be a modern-day for him to risk the capital to construct the architect. Architectural historian Annma­ workshop for artists to work and live in building. Even if the young artists were rie Adams considers Smith as an archi­ one space, not a comfortable domestic struggling financially and were derided tect whose designs "leaned on English space for an artist who could walk away in the papers as the "Hot Mush School," precedents-on the surface-and were from the smell of the oil on his canvas. Harris was determined to see through

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his vision. Harris even capped the rent at around $25 a month to make it affordable.'"

THE STUDIO BUILDING: SYNONYMOUS WITH THE MEMBERS OF THE GROUP OF SEVEN

Much of late nineteenth and early twen­ tieth-century Canadian landscape art was traditional, academic, and European. That is, it was an art steeped in a European Romantic view of the Canadian landscape. Few Canadian artists broke from conven­ tional painting t echniques at the time, and 2 even fewer were prepared to define their his work with the Canadian Art Club. D In art as modern. The few Canadian artists 1911, he met J.E.H. MacDonald who in turn who were radically different painters, such introduced him to a group of artists who as J.W. Morrice or David Milne, left the were interested in Canadian subjects. Har­ country to develop and exhibit their work. ris's contact with C.W. Jefferys, J. William Many ambitious Canadian artists received Beatty, and MacDonald, all of whom were an education in the Parisian academies or interested in Canadian themes, energized Dutch schools, with the rare artist return­ his drive towards an "authentic" Canadian ing home influenced by the avant-garde art. As C.W. Jefferys stated in his review of painting being produced outside the MacDonald's pivotal exhibition of sketches academies. at the Arts and Letters Club, which had impressed Harris, " in themselves [ .. .] Cana - By the first decade of the twentieth cen- dian themes do not make art, Canadian tury, a few artists were bothered by the or other, but neither do Canadian themes tired old-fashioned look of Canadian art; expressed through European formulas or FIG. 8. VIEW OF THE STUDIO BUILDIN G'S REAR FA~ADE. THE faint impressionist brushstrokes began to through European temperaments."21 Har- SMALL ST RUCTUREA TTHE GROUND STOREY ISA SMALL PATIO, ACCESS IBLE FROM STUDIO #1.1 ANDREW appear in Canadian paintings. Curtis W il- ris was also influenced by William Beatty's WALDRON, PARKS CANADA, 2004 liamson, one of the first artists to move into work.22 He would be one of the first art­ the Studio Building, helped to found the ists to move into the Studio Building and Canadian Art Club in 1907 as a response was already travelling to Algonquin Park to the staidness of Canadian art. By 1910, in search of Canadian landscapes. Beatty's a group of Toronto artists associated w ith Evening Cloud of the Northland, painted the Canadian Art Club and the Arts and in 1910, foreshadows the bolder treatment Letters Club were beginning to search for of the paint and choice of colours of Tom the "essence" of Canada in their work.19 Thomson's and Harris's works.

The confluence of those artists began MacDonald and Harris found inspiration with meetings at the Arts and Letters Club for a new Canadian landscape art in the and resulted with the construction of the treatment of the North in the art exhib­ Studio Building. Lawren Harris had been ited at the Albright show in Buffalo. By painting Toronto street scenes after return- the spring of 1913, the two artists were FIG. 9. DETAIL OFA WINDOW ON THE GROUND STO REY. I ing from studies in Berlin, and exhibiting attracting other like-minded painters to ANDREW WALDRON. PARKS CANADI\ 2004

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FIG. 10. STUDIO #1 WINDOW. FIG. 11. ORIGINAL WINDOW HANDLE OF IANDREW WALDRON, PARKS CANADA, 2004 ONE OFTHE CASEMENT WINDOWS. I ANDREW WALDRON, PARKS CANADA, 2004

their interest in the North. Tom Thomson, to go out and sketch, often together, and in June 1915 and became an official war Fred Varley, and Arthur Lismer were Mac­ return to realize their sketches on canvas artist in August 1917. 27 Harris, MacDonald, Donald's colleagues at the commercial art in their own studio. and the other "Studio Building artists" firm, Grip Limited; A.Y. Jackson, who was (as they were now known) continued to disillusioned with the Montreal art commu­ The artistic dynamic of that first year may paint and saw Thomson regularly (Thom­ nity, had been writing to MacDonald and best be reflected in the work of Thomson son moved into a shack behind the build­ had exhibited his work with the Ontario and Jackson. It was during the first year of ing in 1915).28 After Harris was discharged Society of Arts. Jackson had had a disap­ residence that Tom Thomson and Jackson from the army in 1918, he and MacDon­ pointing year exhibiting in Montreal when fed off each other as they shared a studio. ald travelled with Dr. MacCallum from the MacDonald invited him to Toronto in May Between sketching trips to Algonquin, Studio Building to the Algoma District of 1913. Jackson was introduced to Harris and Ontario, Jackson appreciated the raw talent Northern Ontario. That trip was the first was informed of Harris's and MacCallum's of Thomson, and helped refine Thomson's of the famous "box car" trips. 29 In Septem­ idea concerning the Studio Building. After style. A new unity of composition was evi­ ber 1919, the group returned to Algoma, a summer painting on Georgian Bay, Jack­ dent in Thomson's Moonlight, Early Eve­ that time with 'ackson replacing Mac­ son was offered a year rent-free in the ning-a painting that was "painted directly Callum. In May ,920, the newly formed Studio Building by Dr. MacCallum. 23 Mac­ under Jackson's tutelage that first winter Group of Seven exhibited for the first Callum also persuaded Tom Thomson to in the new studio"." Thomson's Algonquin time; five of the seven members had at give up his commercial artwork and pur­ sketches equally influenced Jackson's style. one time painted in the Studio Building. sue fine art; he offered Thomson the same His Frozen Lake, Early Spring, Algonquin It was the place where those artists could conditions as he had offered to Jackson. By Park followed Thomson's basic composi­ meet as professional artists, each seeking January of 1914, the Studio Building was tion and vibrancy of colour in A Northern out a new meaning for Canadian art. As ready to move into. Jackson and Thom­ Lake-Thomson's first large canvas, painted Harris recalled in the late 1940s, "It was son were friends by then and shared a in 1913. built as a working place for those artists ground-floor studio. Harris took the stu- primarily interested in painting Canada in dio beside them, and MacDonald a studio By late 1914, Canada was at war and the its own terms-a new creative venture. If on the top floor. Beatty, Williamson and younger artists Harris and MacCallum it had not been for A .Y. [Jackson], J.E.H. Arthur Heming took the other studios. 24 brought together had to wait over five MacD[onald], [Tom] Thomson, etc., it Fully occupied, the Studio Building housed years before they would return to the would never have been built."30 a group of painters who would radically public eye. Thomson continued to paint change the way the Canadian landscape his stunning works until his death at Canoe However, according to A.Y. Jackson, Harris's was imagined. The artists were now able Lake in July 1917. 26 Jackson joined the army intentions were only partly realized, since

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FIG. 13. INTERIOR OF STUDIO #2 IN 1963. I ONTARIO HOME AND LIVING. FE BRUA RY. 1963. P. 7 FIG. 14. INTERIOR OF STUDIO #1. IANDREW WALDRON, PARKS CAN ADA, 2004

he could not control the artists' output. designated persons of national signifi­ artists after the Group of Seven became Indeed, once the Group of Seven was dis­ cance, although not all of the members of famous. It was one of few places in the solved and reformed as the larger Canadian the Group of Seven resided at the Studio country where an artistic community was Group of Painters, Harris's vision for the Building. Jackson, Thomson, MacDonald, coming together to paint and develop building may not have had the outcome he and Harris all developed their famous style their talent. Its status in the 1910s was was hoping for. As Jackson later recalled, while at the Studio Building. By the late evidently linked to the artwork being pro­ "It was Harris [sic] belief that if conditions 1920s, the building was synonymous with duced by the future members of the Group favourable to the artist were created, good the Group of Seven . Harris, MacDonald, of Seven. In the 1920s and 1930s, that dis­ results would surely follow in his painting. and Jackson's major works of the decade tinction drew a new generation of artists, But the human element is very complex; were completed in the Studio Building. The including prominent Canadian women art­ some of Harris hopefuls did not share his intense and aggressive colours, decorative ists and some of the most important artists ideas or enthusiasm. They got big studios surfaces, lack of depth and lack of atmo­ who would become official war artists dur­ for low rents and went their own way. spheric qualities of their paintings were ing the Second World War. The building Some of them did not even remember to all stylistic elements in their works that speaks to the prominence of those tenants pay the rent." 31 emerged while living and working at the and its unique role as the only purpose­ Studio Building. Indeed, when Emily Carr built shared studio building in the coun­ Despite setbacks, according to Harris, the visited Lawren Harris at his studio in 1927, try at that time. As the prominent Arctic Studio Building's construction enabled she returned home to write in her journal: photographer Richard Harrington (who the members of Canada's most known "I guess that long talk in Lawren Harris rented out part of the basement as his group of painters to come together at studio was the pivot on which turned my first darkroom in the late 1940s) recalled, times when they were not out sketching. life."32 The Studio Building was a place that "It was an open place where everyone Harris went to great lengths to bring had achieved its purpose in Harris's view came and went. We had great parties, those artists together under one roof for the future of Canadian art of the first especially with the Comforts, [Thoreau] in downtown Toronto. And unlike the half of the twentieth century. Macdonald and the Peppers." 33 Indeed, social role of the Arts and Letters Club, most of the artists living in the building the Studio Building was the workshop THE STUDIO BUILDING: A HOME in the 1930s and 1940s were later known where the new Canadian art emerged in TO CANADIAN MODERN ART as pioneers of modern art in Canada, fol­ the 1920s. lowing in the Group of Seven's footsteps. The Studio Building quickly developed a By the 1950s, the legacy of the building's The place had direct associations with reputation as a meeting place for some notoriety in Canadian art continued; how­ members of the Group who have been of the most prominent Canadian modern ever, it was now seen in its historic context

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with few of the next generation respect­ Biriukova was a Russian emigre, who came ing the Canadian nationalist art produced to Canada with her sister, an architect who in the studio. Despite the building's repu­ would design Lawren Harris's mansion in tation, the studios were so well designed Forest Hill, and she instantly developed a for the artist that infamous abstract artist, reputation as a portraitist. Harold Town, and his Painters Eleven col­ league, Walter Yarwood, rented studios MacDonald and Biriukova, who were in the building. lifelong companions, reflected the 1930s generation of Canadian artists broaden- If art in 1920s Canada focused on land- ing what constituted as Canadian art. Mac- FIG. 15. 1NTERIOR OF STUDIO # 4 . [ AN DREWWALDRON, scape, in the 1930s it turned to f igurative Donald worked on the design of over 150 PARKS CANADA, 2004 painting, urban scenes, and a hesitant publications by notable Canadian poets abstraction. The change was gradual as and non-fiction writers of the first half the Group of Seven became a public suc­ of the twentieth century, with particular cess and was identified with the direction attention to include scenes of nature. Biri­ modern painting was heading in Canada. ukova was one of several women artists No more was the Group made up of seven now accepted in the Canadian arts com­ members and solely exhibiting landscapes munity, once dominated by the Group by the 1930s; they invited others to show and their male friends. Indeed, the Studio alongside of them. 34 In 1931, the last Building has had several notable women year the Group of Seven exhibited, many artists reside in the building, besides young artists were following the Group's Biriukova. Lilias Torrance Newton, a fel­

FIG. 16. INTERIOR OF STUDIO # 4 .[ ANDREW WALDRON, style. Yet, there was a growing concern low member of the CGP and prominent PARKS CANADA, 2004 amongst the younger modern artists, and portraitist, was a tenant of the building even the members of the Group, that mod­ during the 1940s. ern painting was too narrowly connected with the Canadian landscape. Modern art However, the first woman artist to rent out in Canada became more national in scope a space in the Studio Building predated in the early 1930s after the Group of Seven the above artists. Marion Long, a Toronto­ had dissolved and reformed as the Cana­ born artist who had studied under George dian Group of Painters (CGP). Established Reid and American artist William Chase, by 28 painters, and led by Fred Varley and rented out Th omson and Jackson's studio A.Y. Jackson, that group was made up of in 1915. For ten years Long painted side by artists from across the country; it had side with her contemporaries, principally no identifiable style, instead it brought on still lites, street scenes, and portraits. wider thematic interests, influenced by In later years, she was the first woman artist the Group of Seven's aesthetic. to become a full member of the Royal Canadian Academy. Activity surrounding the CGP was centred in Toronto, more specifically at the Studio Other women artists, a generation younger Building. Thoreau MacDonald and Yulia than Marion Long, also lived in the Studio Biriukova, both notable Canadian artists Building, although often with their part­ and members of the CGP, resided in the ners. In the 1930s and 1940s, Charles and building until 1949. Thoreau MacDonald Louise Comfort and George and Kathleen was the son of J.E.H . MacDonald, and fol- (Daly) Pepper were two of the couples,

FIG. 17. INTERIOR OF STUDIO # 4 SHOWING THE STAIRS UP lowed in his father's footsteps as a graphic along with Biriukova and MacDonald, who TO THE LOFT SPACE ABOVE THE ENTRANCE.[ artist; he spent years sharing his father's shared quarters. While Louise Comfort was ANDREW WALDRON, PARKS CANADA, 2004 studio before the latter died in 1932.35 not an artist, Kathleen Daly was an avid

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painter with political interests, as was her each of the groups as part of an evolution husband, George Pepper. Both adopted of Canadian art in English Canada from the 1930s painting style known as social the 1910s through to the 1940s. realism, as did Charles Comfort. The last phase of that era began in the All of those Canadian Group of Painters art­ early 1940s when some of the artists in ists shared space in the building with their the Studio Building were called up for mentor, A.Y. Jackson. 36 Yet, his type of land­ duty during the Second World War as scape was only part of their painterly inter­ official war artists. Comfort, Pepper and est. Pepper, Daly, and Comfort were each Lawren Harris, Jr. (who had a studio in reaching out beyond the Group of Seven's the building in the late 1930s) were sent style to integrate European and Ameri­ out from the Studio Building to document can abstraction and social realism in their the Canadian military experience. Comfort paintings. All three responded to the social and Harris, Jr. were sent on the Italian cam­ and economic problems of the Depression, paign; Pepper was sent to Northwestern finding inspiration for their art in the disen­ Europe. Each treated the difficult subject franchised and in some works, existentialism. matter in his unique way. Will Ogilvie and When Charles Comfort lived in the Studio Jack Nichols are two war artists who, after Building, he produced particularly refined being discharged, returned from Europe though sombre paintings. While Comfort to live in the Studio Building.38 Ogilvie had went on to be appointed as the director painted in Italy and Europe, while Nichols, FIG. 18. STUDIO #4'S BATHROOM UNDER THE LOFT. I of the National Gallery, Daly remained the youngest war artist and the one who ANDREW WALDRON, PARKS CANADA, 2004 interested in painting the Inuit and the could best capture the tragedy of war French-Canadian "Habitant," and Pepper in his figures, had been in the Navy and attempted to capture the challenges of the involved in the Normandy landings. Depression besides continuing to paint land- scapes aIa Group of Seven. Indeed, artists in At the time that the Studio Building was the Canadian Group of Painters were hesi- sold by Harris in 1948, Yulia Biriukova, Will tant to break completely from the Group of Ogilvie, Kathleen Daly, George Pepper, Seven's style. Some, such as Carl Schaefer, A.Y. Jackson, and Charles Comfort were liv- who often visited and sometimes worked ing in the building. Other artists naturally in the building, were exceptions. came and went through the building, but those artists, all members of the Canadian The Studio Building was clearly a place Group of Painters, were together under FIG. 19. INTERIOR OF STUDIO #6, THE FORMER STUDIO OF J.E.H. MACDONALD, A.Y. JACKSON, AND HAROLD for like-minded artists to come together. one roof painting, all the while knowing TOWN. IANDREW WALDRON, PARKS CANADA, 2004 In May 1942, the first annual general that the place was begun as a place for meeting of the newly formed Federation new Canadian art by Lawren Harris. of Canadian Artists (it was established in 1941 as a national association of artists at By the late 1940s, painting in Toronto had the Kingston Conference, attended by 150 lost its edge. New art was originating in artists at Queen's University) was held in Montreal, first with John Lyman and the Comfort's studio; all of the regional repre­ Contemporary Arts Society of the late sentatives and the president, Andre Bielier, 1930s and 1940s, then with the young attended the meetingY group of abstract painters known as Les Automatistes, who signed the Refus Global From the Studio Building artists, to the manifesto in 1948. Toronto art, and even

Group of Seven, and then to the Canadian English-Canadian art, were left behind. As FIG. 20. STUDIO #6.1 ANDREW WALDRON. PARKS CANADA, 2004 Group of Painters, the building reflected Dennis Reid wrote, "the painting scene in

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FIG. 21. VIEW OF THE STUDIO BUILDI NG FRO M SEVERN STRE ET. IANDREW WALDRON, PARKS CANADA. 2004

Toronto was moribund [ ... ] after the depar­ The historic Studio Building became home previous decades. The younger abstract ture of Lawren Harris, the only sophisti­ to a younger generation of artists who artists turned inward to examine their cated stimulation came from the Picture were not as closely connected with the own emotional landscape, while divesting Loan Society, and even there the lines ran prewar artists. Jackson was, in his own themselves of any nationalism. Town was as much to the past as to the future." 39 words, "an old horse to be left out to pas­ at the centre of the new movement. He ture."44 The Studio Building was seen as a had his first solo exhibition with Douglas In 1948, Lawren Harris decided to sell the historic building, steeped in connections Duncan's Picture Loan Society in 1954, the building to artist Gordon MacNamara and with numerous prewar Canad ian artists. same year that he and ten other Toronto his partner Charles K. Redfern, after having Indeed, the worker's shack, beside the abstract artists formed Painters Eleven.46 offered the building to Jackson.40 MacNa­ building, was dismantled and moved to the Town stayed in Canada, while some of mara, who was a lawyer in the 1930s and McMichael Collection of Art in Kleinburg, his contemporaries in the group opted to had helped art dealer Douglas Duncan Ontario, where it was rebuilt as a replica leave for the United States.47 He moved start the Picture Loan Society, decided to of Tom Thomson's shack before his death. into the Studio Building in the late 1950s become a full-time artist after serving in Yet, rather than becoming a museum or and began a long residency in two of the the Canadian Army during the war. 41 The shrine, the Studio Building continued to studios until the 1980s. 48 Town was unlike building was in a sorry state according to function as studio spaces .45 previous artists who lived and worked in MacNamara and was under threat of being the building. He did not care for the legacy bought by the architectural firm of Parkin The last internationally prominent artist to they had developed over the decades. As Associates.42 Redfern and MacNamara reside in the Studio Building epitomized the David Burnett wrote in the catalogue for invested in improving the building and con ­ postwar artistic direction towards a fierce Town's retrospective at the Art Gallery of sequently raised the rents. Redfern moved individualism and non-objective form; his Ontario, in immediately after an unfortunate turn of name was Harold Town. If Montreal had events led to the eviction of Yulia Biriukova Les Automatistes, led by Paul-Emile Bord­ The radi cal position of the Group of Seven and Thoreau MacDonald in 1949. Their uas, Toronto's equivalent was the abstract lay precisely in their belief in founding a departure was followed by Jackson's own expressionists of the early 1950s under the "touchstone for the development of art in departure in 1955.43 MacNamara moved name "Painters Eleven." Postwar abstrac­ t he country as a whole," a beli ef that they into the building in 1951, after Kathleen tion in Canada was in part a colonial condi­ coll ectively, and by their influ ence, pursued Daly and George Pepper moved out of their tion emulating New York City's painters, with exemplary success. The malaise in studio. Only Will Ogilvie and the Comforts but, more importantly, it was a disjuncture Toronto art in t he early 1950s was not remained in the building from the 1930s with what was then seen as the oppressive­ due to a lack of direction but because t he generation. All had left by the late 1950s. ness of Canadian landscape painting of the

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FIG. 23 . VIEW OF ROSEDALE RAV INE PARK. IAN DREW WALDRON, PARKS CANADA. 2004

di r'ection t hat did exist had ga ine d the stat us them being the most prominent Canadian goal of developing government support of an institut io n. Town's contribution t hen artists of the day, and the decades to fol- for a wider cultural community across the and later is t hat he has refused the status low. A younger generation, inspired by the country would not occur until the 1960s, of an institution. ' 9 Group's radical art, was able to develop it in many ways he had already succeeded in into a new art during the Depression and the private realm by creating the " work- Thus, it was within the walls of the Stu- the war years, while still being connected shop" in Toronto's Rosedale Ravine. dio Building that almost a whole century with the unavoidable meaning of the land- of Canadian art was made. It began as a scape on all Canadians. As a response to Today, the Studio Building continues to building for the creation of a new Cana­ that meaning, the modern painters of the be a place where artists work. As Gordon dian art, and continues to hold that aura postwar period emphasized the antithesis MacNamara, the artist who owns the today. According to A.Y. Jackson, of their previous generation by turning to building, said, "it's an appropriate build­ non-objective painting. That period lasted ing for an artist like me; the sunlight is Apart from t he notabl e c ont ribution made until cultural nationalism re-emerged from just right, coming through those w indows to Ca nadian art by Harris himself, t he work the Canadian psyche in the mid-to-late throughout the day. I remember many of done t here by M acDonald and Thomson 1960s. the artists in the building thought that alon e w as we ll worth a ll t he expen se the building had very special qualities involved in putting up t he Studio Bu ildin g. Lawren Harris was a visionary for construct- that they weren't able to find in other The buil ding w as a li ve ly centre for new ing the Studio Building. He was able to buildings." 52 In addition to the history ideas, experiments, discussions, pl ans for find the funds, support a group of young associated with the Studio Building, what t he future and visions of an art inspired by artists, and provide a place to cultivate Lawren Harris intended to create-namely t he Canadia n countrysid e. It was, of course, an art that has had a lasting impact on a place for artists doing distinctly Cana­ to be a northern movement.50 the country. Indeed, his idea for the Stu- dian works of art-continues to resonate dio Building as a centre of excellence for in the building today. Of course, Harris's idea to create a studio Canadian art may have eventually assisted building for Canadian art was ultimately in cultivating a national arts community. INTEGRITY a success. Previous to the formation of the When Harris was elected as the president ------Group of Seven, many of the future mem­ of the Federation of Canadian Artists in There is a high degree of integrity to the bers of the Group found their distinctive 1944, he returned to the Studio Building's Studio Building today since it has had style while working at the Studio Build­ ideal for creating similar arts centres across only two owners, both of whom were ing. In the following decades, members of the country when he briefed a House of interested in renting out its studio spaces the Group refined their work, which led to Commons committee. 51 Although his to artists and did not alter the building's

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can be found, but those spaces were not solely designed to accommodate artists. It was a challenge for artists to find suit ­ able studio space, and they would often modify marginal spaces- garages, base­ ments, attics etc.-to meet their needs. A predecessor to the Studio Building was the Tenth Street Studio Building in New York. Built in 1858, it was the first purpose-built studio building in North America. Designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the 100-foot high, three-storey red brick structure "was functional and eclectic, dif­ ferentiating structure from decoration."53 It contained 25 studios surrounding a com­ munal exhibition space. The building was at the epicentre of the American art scene in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, and housed artists from the Hudson River School (Albert Bierstadt eta/.) and major FIG. 21. VIEW OF THE STUDIO BUILDING FROM SEVERN STREET. I ANDR EW WA LDRON. PARKS CANADA. 2004 American impressionists. At the height of its prominence in the late nineteenth cen­ original design. The building possesses COMPARATIVE CONTEXT tury, the Tenth Street Studio Building was special properties clearly appreciated by at the heart of Greenwich Village art scene. past and present artists, especially the Sites that possess similar historic values lfthe building had not been demolished in large windows and high ceilings of each as the Studio Building are rare in Canada. 1956, it would be the American equivalent of the studios. The original design of the No private purpose-built studio buildings to the Studio Building in Toronto. building is intact and continues to convey have been identified in the country with the modern architectural features in its similar ideals in mind from before the Perhaps the most innovative example of simple design and ongoing function as Second World War as are reflected in the a purpose-built studio space in Canada studio spaces. Studio Building. There are, however, sites is the Cormier Studio in Montreal. Archi­ associated with significant Canadian art­ tect Ernest Cormier designed the unusual The exterior of the build ing remains ists. They may include places where artists structure as both a studio and living space intact and appears as it did when com­ congregated and developed their oeuvres, in 1921 on rue Saint-Urbain in downtown pleted. Minor changes to the building or single studio spaces where an individual Montreal. The 67 square metre area ofthe have included the replacement in kind of worked. To give an adequate comparative studio space is two storeys in height. The one of the second-storey single-pane win­ context, sites reflecting architectural and second storey area contains a living room, dows, and the restoration of the stucco associative values will be examined. Most kitchen, dining room, and library. Cormier fac;ade on the north side's left bay (see of the following comparisons are places leased the building to the Ecole des beaux­ fig. 6). Similarly, the interior is intact in of memory, lacking the vitality and living Arts for sculpture courses in 1935. The reading the layers of association through quality that continues to exist at the Studio Province of Quebec bought the building the physical form and fabric. All of the stu­ Building. from Cormier in 1941, and restored it to dios continue to be used as artist spaces, its original state in 1986. The Cormier Stu­ but have been altered over time as each STUDIO SPACES dio was a highly innovative and impressive artist decorated his or her studio to suit building with beaux-arts and modern ele­ his or her own taste. Layers and imprints There are no similar studio spaces existing ments interplaying throughout the design. of individual artists are discernible in the in Canada from the early twentieth cen­ It is a much more architecturally refined present state of the studios. tury. Ateliers and studio spaces in schools building by comparison with the Studio

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Building, but lacks the industrial aesthetic have been erected on the grounds of the with an extension for a studio built by of the latter. Both are similar in that their McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Watson onto the back of the house in large windows face north to capture the Kleinburg, Ontario. Robert McMichael and 1893. A second addition was built in 1906 indirect natural light. is wife, Signe, began collecting Group of as a gallery space with large clerestory Seven art in the mid-1950s and opened windows mounted on the roof to allow for PLACES ASSOCIATED WITH THE a gallery to the public in 1961. Robert indirect lighting to penetrate the gallery MEMBERS OF THE GROUP OF McMichael donated their collection to the all day. 56 This building was clearly associ­ SEVEN provincial government in 1965. Six of the ated with Watson's productive period and ten members who were part of the Group was a place that artists came to visit. The There are several places in Canada that are are buried on the McMichael grounds in a fact that it eventually became a school of connected with members of the Group of small cemetery: Arthur Lismer, Fred Varley, art in the 1950s reflects the importance Seven, some which are directly associated Lawren Harris, Frank Johnston, A.J . Cas­ of this building's history and ongoing use. with the lives and events of the Group, son, and A.Y. Jackson. Also on the grounds The Watson house may also possess emo­ others of which have developed an asso­ is the reconstructed shack that stood tive associations for artists and art lovers ciation over time. Aside from the Studio behind the Studio Building (fig. 35). The of his work, particularly evoked in the Building, the obvious place connected shack was moved to the site in 1962 and experience of visiting his studio, where with the Group is the Arts and Letters has lost all of its integrity, despite being he painted a frieze around the room with Club in downtown Toronto. Founded in restored in 1989. The Kleinburg site is an the names of his most inspirational artists, 1908 by the leading artists and patrons of art gallery and resting place for members and in the experience of the intact 1906 Toronto, the club became the centre for of the Group of Seven. It is a well-visited gallery. A similar symbolic and emotive Canadian culture in the 1910s and 1920s. site for appreciating the Group of Seven in association is felt when visiting the Stu­ The club presently is located in the former Canadian art history that has developed as dio Building, although it is not a public Saint George's Society Building (1891) on a memorial site since the 1960s. Nonethe­ museum. Elm Street. Here, there is a palpable sense less, it does not possess the history where of the history of the artistic club and its many of the artists actually came together A better-known site associated with a former illustrious members. All of the art­ to produce their work. 54 prominent Canadian artist is the Emily ists of the Group of Seven were part of Carr House in Victoria, British Columbia the club, with MacDonald serving a term Lawren Harris was declared as nationally (built 1864). Carr was born in the Victo­ as president. Artworks by club members significant the year he died in 1970, several rian house in 1871 and grew up there until cover the walls of the three-storey build­ years before the Group and the individual her parents died in 1880s. She left to study ing; the Neo-gothic hall continues to stage members were commemorated. A plaque art in San Francisco after her sister took shows and performances, and the top floor to Harris was erected in the basement over the household. Carr's prominence as studio continues to offer art classes. Unlike of the Vancouver Art Gallery beside the a Canadian artist stems from her stunning the Studio Building, the Arts and Letters men's lavatory in 1986. paintings of the natural environment of Club is a building that possesses wider the northwest coast of British Columbia cultural associations than specifically with PLACES ASSOCIATED WITH and depiction of aboriginal communities the members of the Group of Seven, and OTHER ARTISTS OF NATIONAL in the region. She was designated as per­ is more relevant to understanding more SIGNIFICANCE son of national significance in 1950 and broadly the artistic culture of the country a plaque was erected at the house. Here, in the early twentieth century. Homer Watson was designated a person the associative significance is as a place of national significance in 1939 and reaf­ where Carr was born, not for her work as The Group of Seven and some of its mem­ firmed in 1955.55 Homer Watson House I a painter and author. Unlike that build­ bers have been designated as nation­ Doon School of Fine Arts, now known as ing, which has become a public museum ally significant and marked by a plaque the Homer Watson House and Gallery, was and a memorial, the Studio Building at various locations across the country. designated in 1980 for the building's asso­ remains a living studio building with deep Two Historic Sites and Monuments Board ciation with Homer Watson the artist. The associations that have existed since it was of Canada (HSMBC) plaques, one for building consists of a typical nineteenth­ erected, and where productive artists have A .Y. Jackson and the other for the Group, century brick house erected in the 1830s lived and worked.

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PLACES ASSOCIATED WITH development on adjacent land across the in the heritage evaluation ofthe district's ARTISTIC MOVEMENTS IN subway line from being built. According buildings. 58 CANADA to the owner, the proposed condominium towers would impede natural light reach­ When the Board recommended commem­ There are few places in Canada where a ing the Studio Building, thus ruining the oration of the Group of Seven at its May conscious and cohesive artistic movement quality of light entering the building. That 1974 meeting, it advised the Department can be identified with specific sites. In most potential development is only in the plan­ of Environment to "investigate the pos­ regions of the country, a social circle within ning stages and the outcome of the pro­ sibility of acquiring an appropriate studio a city identified the artistic group. Thus, posal has yet to be finalized. or studios in the Studio Building in Toronto an artistic milieu was called the "Toronto where the Group actually worked, refur­ scene" or the "Vancouver scene," etc. OTHER DESIGNATIONS nishing it and interpreting it to commemo­ Only in some places with a more formal rate the Group of Seven." 59 Parks Canada setting do connections with a group of There is a municipal designation on the did not pursue the Board's suggestion. artists exist. For example, the Emma Lake building and the Toronto Historical Board Summer School, north of Regina, became (Heritage Toronto) erected a plaque in COMMUNITY VALUE connected with the "Regina 5" artistsY 1996. It reads: Other places have become known for spe­ The Studio Building is known in Canada cific artistic events or gathering places, but The Studio Building for its association with the Group of Seven were much less formal places. For example, and their fellow artists. In most historical the sculptors Frances Loring and Florence The construction of the Studio Building accounts and exhibitions on the Group of Wyle, who were lifelong partners and for Canadian Art was commissioned by Seven in the past seventy years, the Studio founding members of the Sculptors' Soci­ renowned Canadian artist Lawren Harris Building figures prominently in the story. ety of Canada, bought an old abandoned [1885-1970], an heir to the Massey-Harris church together on Lawton Boulevard in farm machinery fortune, and arts patron In 2003, the owner of the Studio Build­ Toronto in 1920 and converted it into liv­ Or. James MacCallum. Designed by Toronto ing, Gordon MacNamara who, incidentally ing and studio spaces. For a time during ar chitect Eden Smith (1859-1949) in 1914, died just a few weeks ago at the age of 97, the 1920s and 1930s, it was a gathering it soon became an important centre for decided to participate in Toronto's annual place for Toronto artists, including for new developments in Canadian painting. Doors Open weekend event. He allowed the artists living at the Studio Building. Group of Seven members, Harris, J .E.H. the building to be open for three hours In Montreal, perhaps a location such as MacDonald and A.Y. Jackson were among and over 400 people went through the the former Librairie Henri Tranquille on the original occupants. Tom Thomson and studios.60 Ste-Catherine Street (now demolished), Frederick Varley worked at various times in where Montreal's modern artists launched the rear shack, which was moved in 1962, NOTES the manifesto Refus global in 1948, was a to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection significant place relating to a specific artis­ in Kleinburg. The Studio Building was sold 1. Gadsby, Peter, "Where the Artists Work by Northern light: A Building that Houses Model tic movement. The Studio Building, unlike by Harris to artist Gordon MacNamara Studios," Toronto Daily Star, February 28, the library, has survived intact and conveys in 1948. 1914. the association with the emergence of the 2. The author was able to enter only four of the Group of Seven and the artistic develop­ There is no provincial designation, how­ studios. ments that followed. ever, and the building is part of a register 3. In some of the studios there were originally of buildings within a proposed heritage built-in seats with high backs. Toronto Daily THREATS conservation district developed by the Star, February 28, 1914. South Rosedale Ratepayers' Association. 4. Remains of the shack were moved to the Mc­ The Studio Building is not directly under That group commissioned a study of the Michael Art Collection in Klein burg in 1962. threat in relation to its exceptional design district by ERA Architects of Toronto in 5. Noted British architectural historian Sir Nikolas or association with the Group of Seven. 2000 to protect and interpret the architec­ Pevsner considered it a fine example of modern architecture for its time. The latter visited the However, friends of the owner recently tural heritage of the Rosedale Ravine. The building in 1977, while he was lecturing at the led a campaign to prevent a condominium Studio Building received the highest mark

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University of Toronto. (Brown, Doug, architect 20. Lawren Harris's studio was on the top floor ally. They were noted in catalogues at the time and specialist on the w ork of Eden Smith, email of the Bank of Commerce at Bloor and Yonge and major exhibitions on the Group of Seven correspondence, February 25, 2004.) Street. always noted those plein-air painting trips.

6. Harris, Lawren, c1978, Lawren S. Harris: Urban 21. Quoted in Reid, 1988: 140. 30. Biogr aphical questionnaire sent by Martin Scenes and Wilderness Landscapes 1906-1930, Baldwin, Director of the Art Gallery of Toronto, 22. In 1909, after painting in Europe, Beatty and Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, p. 14. to Lawren S. Harris, September 19, 1947, Art Harris went north to sketch, thus introducing Gallery of Ontario Archives. 7. Harris: 44. Harris to a new dimension of Canadian scenery. J.E.H. MacDonald likewise attributed his early 31 . Jackson : 26. 8. Harris took out a building permit in Novem­ interest in sketching farther north to Beatty's ber of that year for what was likely a smaller 32. Quoted in Duval, Paul, 1991 , « The Group of comparable attraction to northern scenery. building on the property. The following year, Seven's Toronto Studio Building >>, City and (Dorothy Farr, c1981, J.W. Beatty 1869-1941, he took out a new building permit for the Country Home, November, p. 113-114. Kingston, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, substantially larger building that stands on p. 24.) 33. Harrington, Richard, telephone conversation the property today. The original permit was w ith author, February 5, 2004. for a building at an estimated cost of $9000; 23. As Jackson recalled : "If all you young fellows the second for a building estimated at a cost go off to the States," he [MacCallum] growled, 34. J.E .H. MacDonald died in 1932; Harris left for of $14,000. (Brown, op. cit.) 'art in Canada is never going to get anywhere.' the United States in 1934; A.J. Casson, Edwin Then he made me a surprising proposition. If I Holgate, and Lionel Lemoyne Fitzgerald were 9. Hausser, Frederick B., 1926, A Canadian Art would take a studio in the building he and Har­ showing with the Group by the late 1920s. Movement: The Story of the Group of Seven, ris were having erected, he would guarantee Toronto, Macmillan, p. 66. 35. A v isual imprint of the period remains intact my expenses for a year. Of course I accepted." in a third-floor studio. A script that has been 10. Ibid. (Jackson : 26-27.) attributed to both J.E.H. MacDonald and Tho­ 11. The Arts and Letters Club was a men's social 24. Arthur Heming (1870-1940) was an artist known reau survives along the base of the balcony. It club established in 1908 by Toronto's artists for his expressive, if conservative, paintings of is a Ch inese text that reads as follows: "With and patrons; Harris and Smith were founding the Canadian North. Known as the " chronicler the breath of the four seasons in one's breast members. The club was the most important of the North," his illustrations of northern one can create on paper. The five colours well forum for formulating a Canadian cultural wildlife, trappers, and aboriginal people were applied enlighten the world." (See fig. 19.) identity in the early twentieth century. All of widely published throughout North America 36. For a general history of the period, consult Du­ the Group of Seven artists were members of and Europe, and his three published novels, val, Paul, 1972, Four Decades: The Canadian the Club. Spirit Lake, The Drama of the Forests, and The Group of Painters and their Contemporaries Living Forest, drew heavily from his experiences 12 . Neal, Carolyn, 1976, Eden Smith Architect, To­ - 1930-1970, Toronto, Clarke, Irwin & Com­ in Northern Canada. Although Heming's best­ ronto, The Architectural Conservancy of On­ pany Ltd. tario Toronto Region Branch. known works are his later brightly coloured oil paintings, the artist worked exclusively in 37. The Federation of Canadian Artists regional 13. Adams, Annmarie, 1993, « Eden Smith and the· black, white, and yellow until he was 60 years representatives were: Lawren Harris, Gordon Canadian Domestic Revival », Urban History Re­ old, having been informed at an early age that Sinclair, Ernest Lindner, Byllee Lang, A .Y. Jack­ view I Revue d'histoire urbaine, vol. 21, no. 2, he was colour blind. (Arthur Heming Collec­ son, and Walter Abell, [http://ww w.artists. March, p. 111 . tion, National Gallery of Canada.) calindex. html], consulted February 15, 2004.

14. Idem: 112 . 25. Reid, 1988: 144; Reid, Dennis, 2002, « Tom 38. Nichols lived in the Studio Building from 1952 to 1955, while painting a mural for the head­ 15. Toronto Daily Star, February 28, 1914. Thomson and the Arts and Crafts Movement in Toronto>>, In Dennis Reid (ed.), Thomson, quarters of the Salvation Army in downtown 16. The final cost of the building was $21,165.45. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, p. 74. Toronto. Nichols left for Europe in 1956. (National Archives of Canada I Archives natio­ 39. Reid, 1988: 247. nales du Canada, A. Y. Jackson Fonds, MG30 26. J.E.H. Macdonald suffered a breakdown af­ D351 , Box 102, « Studio Building>>.) ter hearing of Thomson's death. (Reid, 1988 : 40. Charles K. Redfern was an artist who organized 148.) the nationwide amateur war art competitions 17. Toronto Daily Star, February 28, 1914. 27. Several of the other future members of the held in 1944 and 1945. He was a still life artist 18. According to the ledgers for the building from Group of Seven were also commissioned as in his later years. 1914 to 1916, it appears that Harris lost money war artists. 41 . MacNamara, Gordon, conversation with au­ on the building. He paid the balance owing thor, January 20, 2004. out of his ow n account. (National Archives of 28. The artists would share their materials. Harris, Canada, op. cit. See also Ja ckson, A.Y., 1958, for example, purchased a large roll of jute can­ 42. Letter from Gordon MacNamara to A .Y. Jack­ A Painter's Country: Autobiography, Toronto, vas while in New Jersey in 1915, and returned son, November 13, 1954, National Archives of Clarke, Irwin, p. 132.) to share it with the other artists. (Reid, 2002 : Canada I Archives nationales du Canada, A.Y. 147.) Jackson Fonds, MG30 D351, Box 102, File 19. 19. Reid, Dennis, 1988, A Concise History of Cana­ dian Painting, Toronto, Oxford University Press, 29. The "box car" trips were important in develop­ 43. An acrimonious relationship between Jackson p. 138. ing the art movement in Canada and in how and MacNamara led to Jackson moving out of that movement was understood internation- his studio in 1955. (Ibid.)

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44. He moved to Manotic, Ontario, where he con­ 53 . Horsley, Carter B. , 2004, « The Tenth Street tinued to paint until his death in 1974. (Ibid.) Studio Building: Artist-entrepreneurs from the Hudson River School to the American Im­ 45. MacNamara and Redfern both lived and paint­ pressionists », [http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/4aa/ ed in the building. In the late 1950s, Paul Duval 4aa62.htm]. consulted February 5, 2004. moved in. Other artists came and went. 54. Similarly, commemoration of Tom Thomson, 46. Town's early abstract work was clearly influ­ though not a member of the Group of Seven, enced by the work of fellow group member has been marked by a plaque at Canoe Lake in Oscar Cahen. Town was an enigmatic artist, Algonquin Park, where he died in 1917. deeply individualistic and concerned with breaking open the artistic behaviour in To ­ 55. HSMBC Minutes, May 1939. ronto. In a positive light, Robert Fulford wrote: 56 . Johnson, Dana, and Leslie Maitland, HSMBC "Town has tended to feel the character of his Agenda Paper 1980-31, p. 495. period intensely and reflects it in h is work. He isn't an artist who can be see n exclusively in 57. The "Regina 5" was a group of young abstract terms of art history[ ... ] in the 1950s he was a artists brought together at the summer school leader in Canada [ .. . ] of art's heroic effort t o by teachings of vis iting American artist Barnett save us al l from boring ourselves to death." Newman and some of the artists experiment­ (Quoted in Burnett, David, 1986, To wn, Toron­ ing with mescaline. to, Art Gallery of Ontario/McCielland & Stewart 58. The Studio Building was categorized as an "A" Ltd., p. 38.) building, meaning that it is individually out­ 47. Town and Walter Yarwood refuse d to receive standing and has actual or potential national New York art critic Clement Greenberg to see or provincial significance. ([http://www.south­ their work while he visited Toronto in June rosedale.org/]. consulted February 23, 2004.) 1957 by invitation from William Ronald, an­ 59. HSMBC Minute 1974-05, p. 18-19. other member of the Painters Eleven. 60. Nasmith, Catherine, architect, phone and email 48. "In his studio the first thing I noticed was a correspondence, February 23, 2004. punching bag hanging on a chain by the door. There were high ceilings, windows that invented the word grimy, a railed-in mezzanine at the far end, mahogany cupboards against one wall, and not a tube of paint in sight. But the clutter, the stuff! Dozens of rolls of canvas propped against the wall, tables piled high with papers, tools, stacks of balsa stretchers, gallon cans and pails under one table. Bare canvases and some with painted grounds of white gesso in various sized rectangles and squares were stacked under t he mezzanine." (Nowell, Iris, 1992, Hot Breakfast for Sparrows, Toronto, Stoddart, p. 6-7.)

49. Burnett : 200.

50. Jackson : 27.

51 . Twenty-five " major cultural community cen­ tres" were to be built in Canadian cities, in ad­ dition to another 50 minor centres in smaller towns and regions. Those cu ltural complexes were intended to have capacity for a theatre, art gallery, studio spaces, and a library. (Lar­ isey, Peter, 1993, Light for a Cold Land: La wren Harris's Work and Life - An Interpretation, Toronto, Dundurn Press, p. 155-156.)

52. MacNamara, Gordon, conversation with author, January 20, 2004.

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