Showing 110 results

Persoon/organisatie
AGOAC00423 · Persoon · 1887 - 1974

Kathleen Jean Munn (1887-1974) was a modernist Canadian painter active in Toronto between the World Wars. She was the youngest of six children born to a Toronto jeweler who died when she was four (of an infection caused by the impact from a champagne cork) leaving her mother to manage the family business. Her talent for drawing was encouraged by her maternal grandmother, an accomplished amateur painter, and she was sent to study at the Westbourne School with F. McGillivray Knowles from 1904 to 1907. Knowles encouraged personal expression and an understanding of the principles of art and Munn thrived in this environment. In 1909 she began to exhibit Barbizon inspired landscapes at the OSA, RCA and CNE exhibitions, moving through periods influenced by Whistler, Corot, Puvis de Chavannes and the post-impressionists. About 1912 Munn first traveled to New York to study at the Art Student’s League and in 1914 she was awarded first prize at the Summer School in Woodstock NY. In 1915-16 she began a series of landscapes in which she showed a mastery of modernist techniques. Her association with the Art Student’s League, whose teachers were early proponents of modernism, was an important influence. Her notebooks show that she was reading extensively and broadly in the areas of literature, philosophy and aesthetics. She studied Jay Hambridge’s mathematical principles, the concept of ‘dynamic symmetry’ and Denman Ross’s colour theory. She seems to have been drawn to writers who proposed an underlying system of order and logic as a basis for individual expression. She also toured Britain and the major art centres of continental Europe in 1920, accompanied by her sister, and this trip seems to have encouraged her quest for a means to express religious and spiritual themes in a contemporary fashion. She was ultimately uncomfortable with complete abstraction and believed that art should express a larger purpose, influenced by readings of Blavatsky, Blake, Whitman, and others. The Group of Seven shared her interest in the spiritual content of painting but she was intolerant of their nationalism; of her contemporaries she formed the closest bonds with Bertram Brooker and Lemoine Fitzgerald. Her studio, in a large room overlooking the ravine at the family home at 320 Spadina Avenue, was visited often by Brooker. The household consisted of three unmarried siblings: Will (Jr.), who ran the family business, May, a teacher who ran the household, and Kathleen. During the 1920’s she began to work on a series of paintings that explored Christian themes and she devoted the 1930’s to the subject of the Passion. Two major drawings from this series were purchased by the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1945. She exhibited a number of these drawings with Fitzgerald and Brooker at the Malloney Galleries in Toronto in 1935 but there as little critical response. Discouragement at her lack of critical success, combined with the death of her brother in 1935 and her sister’s increasing disability, led to the end of her artistic output around 1939. Most of her work remained in family hands. The Art Gallery of Toronto exhibited her Passion drawings in several group shows in the 1940’s and the Willistead Art Gallery in Windsor included her Ascension in a 1954 show of drawings. She died twenty years later, in October 1974.

AGOAC00388 · Persoon · 1865 - 1931

Jules Frederic Wegman was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland on 14 July 1865 and received his early education there. He came to the United States with his father Julius, also an architect, at the age of ten years and trained with him. At one point he was sent to Jerusalem to measure the city and its buildings, and his drawings were used to reproduce the city at the Worlds’ Fair at St. Louis in 1904. Wegmen then spent several years in the Chicago office of Daniel H. Burnham & Co., a leading figure of American architecture. He appears to have also worked there under his own name, and is credited with the design of the Newbury Building, South Wabash Avenue at East Ninth Street in Chicago, in 1896. In 1905 he was invited to join the Toronto firm of Darling & Pearson, and worked there until his death in 1931, becoming a partner in 1924. He worked on the Sun Life Building in Montreal, the North Toronto Station at Yonge and Summerhill, and the 1925 expansion of the Art Gallery of Toronto. He spoke at least four languages fluently and traveled widely, collecting photographs and drawings of architectural details. In 1911 he joined the Arts and Letters Club and lunched there regularly. In 1912 he was Chairman of the Toronto Chapter of the Ontario Association of Architects and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada shortly before his death.

AGOAC00672 · Persoon · 1843-1915

Sir William Cornelius Van Horne (1843-1915), principal builder of the Canadian Pacific Railway and prominent businessman, was an important collector of paintings and Japanese ceramics and an accomplished amateur painter. Born in Illinois, he worked for American railway companies in various capacities until 1882, when he was appointed general manager of Canadian Pacific Railway, the construction of which was completed under his direction. In 1888, Van Horne was elected president of the company, and in 1899, he became president of its board of directors. He retired from active work in the company in 1910. Van Horne incorporated the Cuba Company in 1900 following a visit to that country; under its operations he built and operated a railway, sugar plantations and hotels. In North America, Van Horne was executive or director of more than 40 companies, and was considered one of Canada’s most successful businessmen. William Van Horne married Lucy Adaline, daughter of Erastus Hurd of Galesburg, Illinois, in 1867. They had 3 children: Adaline (1868-1941), William (1871-1876), and Richard Benedict (1877-1931). The family lived principally in Montreal, and also had residences in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, and in Cuba. Van Horne was knighted (KCMG) in 1894. Sir William’s art collection is considered to have been the most prominent pre-First World War collection in Montreal. It contained Old Master and 19th-century European paintings and Japanese ceramics, and also featured ship models and European decorative arts. Van Horne lent regularly to the Montreal Art Association (precursor to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts) from 1887 to 1912. His reputation as a collector resulted in his appointment to the consultative committee of the Burlington Magazine in London from 1905 until his death in 1915. Following Sir William’s death, the bulk of his ceramics collection was left to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and the art collection passed to the joint ownership of Lady Van Horne and her children Adaline and Richard Benedict, according to terms of Sir William’s will. Lady Van Horne died in 1929. Under the terms of her will, a portion of the art collection went to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the rest was shared among her children. Richard Benedict Van Horne died in 1931. His widow, Edith Molson, had no claim to any share in the remains of the art collection; subsequently she married R. Randolph Bruce. A fire at the Van Horne mansion in 1935 did not damage any paintings. Adaline Van Horne, who had been managing the collection through the 1930s, died unmarried and childless in 1941. Ownership of the collection then passed to Richard Benedict and Edith’s son William C.C. Van Horne (1907–1946) and his wife Margaret (d.1987), familiarly known as “Billie” (née Hannon). When William died, leaving no heir, ownership of the collection remained with his wife. Margaret Van Horne managed the art collection for over forty years, corresponding with art dealers and conservators in order to achieve optimal values for paintings. Numerous paintings were sold in several different auction sales over the course of this time. She continued to live in the Van Horne mansion until 1972. The house was demolished the following year to great protest in the architectural conservation community. When Margaret Van Horne died in 1987, the remainder of the collection passed to her brother Matthew Hannon. Upon Matthew Hannon’s death in 1988, the remainder of the art collection passed to his heirs.

S007 · Persoon · 1857-1943

Ann Augusta Stowe-Gullen (1857-1943) was a medical doctor, a lecturer and a suffragette. She was born in Mt. Pleasant, Ontario, the daughter of John Stowe and Emily Howard Jennings. She married John Benjamin Gullen in 1883. She died in Toronto. Stowe-Gullen was educated at the Toronto School of Medicine, then at the Faculty of Medicine at Victoria University, Toronto, where she became an M.D. in 1883, the first woman to graduate from a Canadian medical school. Immediately after graduating she was appointed Demonstrator in Anatomy at the Woman’s Medical College in Toronto (from 1894 onwards known as the Ontario Medical College for Women). In 1890 she was appointed Lecturer on Diseases of Children, subsequently Professor of Diseases of Children. She also served among the original staff members of Toronto Western Hospital (founded in 1896). Stowe-Gullen was a member of the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Ontario Social Service Council, the Senate of the University of Toronto where she represented women in the medical profession (1912-24), the Toronto Board of Education (1892-96), the University Women's Club, the Women's Art Association, the Women's Board at Toronto Western Hospital, and the Women's Canadian Club. She was also active in the suffrage, temperance and other social movements. She was among the founders of the National Council of Women in 1893, (President) of the Canadian Suffrage Association, (Vice-President) of the National Council of Women, and she succeeded her mother as President of the Dominion Women’s Enfranchisement Association in 1903. In 1935 she was awarded the Order of the British Empire.

Theberge, John B., 1940-
S099 · Persoon · 1940 -

John Theberge (1940- ) was a professor and researcher in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Waterloo, from 1972 until his retirement in 2000. Theberge received his BSc from the University of Guelph, MSc from the University of Toronto, and PhD from the University of British Columbia. John Theberge's career focused on his wolf research, pioneering a technique using vocal patterns to identify wolves. John Theberge and his co-researcher and wife Mary Theberge became Canada's premier timber wolf research team, receiving international recognition for their field research. In 1993, Equinox magazine proclaimed John and Mary Theberge "Environmentalist of the Year". In 1998 they were presented with the Harkin Medal from Canadian Parks and Wilderness Services.

Regier, Henry A., 1930-
S044 · Persoon · 1930 -

Henry A. Regier (1930 - ) was a professor of zoology and environmental studies at the University of Toronto until his retirement in 1995. Regier received his BA from Queen's University, a professional teaching certificate from the University of Toronto, and his PhD from Cornell University. In 1966 he joined the University of Toronto. Henry Regier's research interests include the Great Lakes, human use of aquatic systems, world population, and climate change. Regier served as a Canadian commissioner on the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, from 1980 to 1989. From 1987 to 1990 he served on the Great Lakes Science Advisory Board of the International Joint Commission of Canada and the USA. Regier has received many awards, including the Conservation Award of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists in 1980, the Centenary Medal by the Royal Society of Canada in 1986, the Award of Excellence of the American Fisheries Society in 1992, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association of Great Lakes Research in 2005.

Bernhardt, Clara, 1911-1993
AC0003 · Persoon · 1911 - 1993

Clara Bernhardt (1911-1993) was a poet, novelist, composer, and columnist, who lived in Cambridge, Ontario. At the age of eleven she was stricken with polio and confined to a wheelchair. Although she was unable to pursue more that a Grade 8 education, Bernhardt wrote poetry, articles, and stories. Her newspaper columns circulated in Canada and the United States for more than sixty years, and she was a columnist for the Preston Times Herald (now the Cambridge Times) for thirty years. She published three volumes of poetry, two novels, and a book of songs. In 1991 Clara Bernhardt was presented with the Order of Ontario.

AC00045 · Persoon · 1923 - 2005

Len Gertler (1923-2005) was a planner, administrator, author, and university professor, whose areas of study included planning, and public policy. Gertler was born in Montreal, Quebec, and was educated at Queen's University, McGill University, and the University of Toronto. Throughout his career he held a wide variety of positions. Len Gertler served as Director of the Edmonton District Planning Commission, and also held the position of Deputy Commissioner of Planning for the City of Toronto. In 1966 he became a professor at the University of Waterloo, establishing a new program in Urban and Regional Planning. He was also involved in establishing the University of Waterloo's Faculty of Environmental Studies, and became the first Director of the School of Planning. Gertler was the coordinator and author of the Niagara Escarpment Study in 1968. His international work included assignments in Indonesia, Jamaica, India, Japan, and Uzbekistan. Gertler was a member and Vice-Chair of the Ontario Environmental Assessment Board, from 1990-2001. The Canadian Institute of Planners' Award for Planning Excellence in 2001 was named in honour of Len Gertler.

S006 · Persoon · 1831-1903

Emily Howard Jennings Stowe (1831-1903) was a teacher and principal, a medical doctor, and a suffragette. Educated at home, Stowe became a teacher in 1846 and graduated from the Provincial Normal School in Toronto, Canada West in 1854. In 1865 Stowe applied to study medicine at the University of Toronto, but was denied entry because she was a woman. Unable to pursue her education in Canada, she attended the New York Medical College for Women. After graduating in 1867, Stowe returned to Toronto to practice medicine without a license. In 1870 she was allowed to attend the University of Toronto and was granted a medical license in 1880. In 1877 Emily Stowe organized Canada's first suffrage organization, initially called the Toronto Women's Literary Club, which later became the Toronto Women's Suffrage Club.