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Bell & Howell Information and Learning 3(X) North Zeeb Road, Ann Artwr, Ml 48106-1346 USA UMI 800-521-0600 The Force of Culture: Vincent Massey and Canadian Sovereignty by Karen Anne Phibbs Finlay B.A., Queen's University, Kingston, 1976 M.A., University of Toronto, 1980 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of History in Art We accept this dissertation as conforming to the required standard Dr. Mavor Moore, Co-supervisor (Faculty of Fine Arts] Dr. Christopher Thomas, Co-supervisor (Department of History in^-^rt) Ggrdana Laz&^evich, Outside Member (School of Music) tricia Roy, Outside Member (Department of History) Dr. /joydeZemansjExternal Examiner (Department of visual York. Urrtversity) ® Karen Anne Phibbs Finlay, 1999 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopying or any other means, without the permission of the author. Co-supervisors : Dr. Mavor Moore and Dr. Christopher Thomas Abstract In Canada, a country defined by a certain cultural reticence, Vincent Massey (1887-1967) was that remarkable entity, a champion of culture. Through a wide range of initiatives in the arts and education, he expressed his determination to frame a cultural model of Canada. Earlier conceptions of the country's make-up had tended to be narratives about the march from colony to self-government, or were predicated on environmental and economic factors. On the contrary, Massey held that its spiritual foundations, traditions, values, and aspirations rendered Canada a community and a nation. True Canadian sovereignty meant developing a "fully-rounded national life". He argued for the force of culture over what he called the force of geography. The cultural model that Massey advanced had particular features. Its bedrock was a faith in education, specifically, a liberal arts education, as distinct from a strictly technical or professional training. Culture and education were virtual synonyms in early twentieth century Canada. It was widely understood that the beneficiary of a liberal arts training exhibited independence of mind, served excellence over self-interest, displayed flexibility and tolerance, and, in turn, contributed to societal harmony. Culture, in this sense, was the source of community. Virtually inseparable from culture was citizenship; the idea of character, the goal of a liberal arts education, was central to both. Individual character, which was esteemed for its allegiance to the greater good, and, perhaps paradoxically, its resistance to conformity and standarization, was analogized with "national character and citizenship", a refrain of the 1920s. To speak of national character was not only to affirm the moral nature of Canada's citizenry, but to prize its uniqueness and diversity in the face of the forces of cultural homogenization seen to be emanating from the United States. Culture was the cultivation of citizenship, and, as such, the foundation of national sovereignty. The fine arts, slow to gain acceptance in Canada generally, only belatedly secured a foothold in this scheme. Steeped in Methodism, Massey never adopted an art-for-arts- sake doctrine. He came to understand, however, that the arts, without being moralizing, could serve a moral agenda: the constructing of national community. In this, they, too, were agents of culture. Influenced by British models of state-supported art, Massey increasingly aligned culture with the federal government, but distinguished firmly between state control and state intervention. The substitution of excellence and diversity as new moral imperatives in the construction of the state, in place of authority and political exigency, was the key to his recommendation of government-supported culture and art (Massey Report, 1951). The principle he sought to honour, pertaining deeply to the nature of humanism in Canada, was community without uniformity. Examiners : Dr. Mavor Moore, Co-supervisor (Faculty of Fine Arts) Dr. Christopher Thomas, Co-supervisor (Department of History in ^ t ) ^ U Dif/ Gordane Lazar^ich, Outside Member (School of Music) _____________________________________________ Department of History) DrTjpyceTzemahlyzema^ External Examiner (Department of Visual Art^,/Yorjc UniA^e^ity) Table of Contents Abstract il Table of Contents iv List of Illustrations v List of Abbreviations viii Preface and Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Vincent Massey's "Other Canada" 1 Part A: Culture and Education 1. From Conversion to Culture: A Methodist Education 12 2. National Council of Education 66 Part B: Art and Culture 3. Becoming "Art-Minded" 103 4. Art and Nationality 163 5. British Connections/British Models 242 6. Culture, the State, and Canadian Sovereignty 303 Conclusion: The Force of Culture 358 Selected Bibliography 3 76 List of Illustrations Note: Unless otherwise stated, measurements are given in centimetres, and, excepting figures 2, 6, 7, 13, and 27, photographic credit belongs to the owner of the work of art. Fig. 1. Chautauqua, New York, 1870s,• from left to right: founders Lewis Miller and Bishop John Heyl Vincent; Hart Massey and three of his children, Fred Victor, Lillian, and Chester (Vincent Massey's father); and an unknown man. Photo: Courtesy of CHIA. Fig. 2. Bishop John Heyl Vincent, Lillian, Vincent, Chester, and Anna Vincent Massey, early 1890s. Fig. 3. "Gallery", interior of the home of Chester Massey, 519 Jarvis St., Toronto, c. 1910. Photo: NAC, C86701. Fig. 4. F. H. Varley, Chester Massev, 1920, oil on canvas, 123 X 145, Hart House Permanent Collection, UT. Fig. 5. Arts & Letters Club Executive, 1922; Massey at the extreme left. Photo: ALCA. Fig. 6. J. E. H. MacDonald, Vincent Massev with Fellow Members of the Arts & Letters Club. Toronto, pen and ink on paper, 15.1 X 13.5, from a volume presented to Massey on the occasion of his appointment as Canada's first minister to the United States, TFRBL. Fig. 7. The cast of Galsworthy's The Pigeon. Burwash Hall, Victoria College, University of Toronto, 1915; Massey in the centre (seated). Fig. 8. Hart House, front view, looking towards Queen's Park, Toronto, c. 1920. Photo: UTA. Fig. 9. Lawren Harris, Vincent Massev, 7 March 1925, pencil on paper, 24 x 18 cm (sight), Private Collection. Fig. 10. Arthur Lismer, Caricature of Polya, Harris. Varley. Jackson. MacDonald. Vincent Massev Seated. 1925, graphite and conte on paper, 19.1 x 25.4, AGO, Gift of Mrs. Ruth M. Tovell, 1953 . Fig. 11. F. H. Varley, Vincent Massev. 1920, oil on canvas, 120.7 X 141, Hart House Permanent Collection, UT. Fig. 12. F. H. Varley, Vincent Massev. 1922, charcoal on paper, 49.8 x 40, ALC. Copyright Estate of Kathleen G. McKay, courtesy AGO. Fig. 13. F. H. Varley, Alice Massev. c. 1924-25, oil on canvas, 82 x 61.7, VMB. Copyright Estate of Kathleen G. McKay, courtesy AGO. Fig. 14. Batterwood, Port Hope, Ont., study, c. 1964. Fig. 15. A. Y. Jackson, Valley at Batterwood. 1930, oil on wood, 26.6 X 34.4, VMB. Fig. 16. A. Y. Jackson, Massey Gardens at Port Hope, 1930, oil on wood, 26.7 x 34.4, VMB. Fig. 17. A. Y. Jackson, Northern Lake. 1928, oil on canvas, 82.3 X 127.7, VMB. Fig. 18. Lawren Harris, In the Ward. Toronto, c . 1919, oil on beaverboard, 26.7 x 34.7 x 3.9, VMB. Fig. 19. Lawren Harris, Lake Superior, c. 1928, oil on canvas, 86.1 x 102.2, VMB. Fig. 20. Arthur Lismer, A September Gale. Georgian Bay. 1920, oil on canvas, 51.5 x 61, VMB. Fig. 21. F . H . Varley, Vera. 1931, oil on canvas, 61 x 50.6, VMB. Copyright Estate of Kathleen G. McKay, courtesy AGO. Fig. 22. Charles Comfort, Tadoussac. 193 5, oil on canvas, 76.1 X 91.4, VMB. Fig. 23. Edwin Holgate, Ludivine. 193 0, oil on canvas, 76.3 X 63.9, VMB. Fig. 24. David Milne, Window. 193 0, oil on canvas, 56.2 x 71.9, VMB. Fig. 25. David Milne, Painting Place, No. 3 . 1930, oil on canvas, 51.3 x 66.4, VMB. Fig. 26. Emily Carr, Indian Hut. Queen Charlotte Islands, c. 1930, oil on canvas, 101.6 x 82.6, VMB. Fig. 27. "A Century of Canadian Art", Tate Gallery, installation photograph, 1938; Varley's Vera and Carr's Indian Hut from the Massey collection displayed. Photo: NGC. Fig. 28. "Canadian War Art", National Gallery, London, 1944: (left to right) Carl Schaefer, Kenneth Clark, The Duchess of Kent, and Massey, examining Schaefer's Night Exercise. Fig. 29. Augustus John, The Canadians opposite Lens, c. 1917- 19, charcoal on paper, 3.7 x 12.3, MFG (Port Hope, Ont.), 1972 . Fig. 30.