Work and Perseverance: Paintings by Women Artists

Over the course of the twentieth century, the development of public art museums and galleries in Ontario (and indeed, across Canada) was spurred to a large extent by the efforts of women.

Over the course of the twentieth century, the development of public art museums and galleries in Ontario (and indeed, across Canada) was spurred to a large extent by the efforts of women. They served in groups as volunteers fundraising for building and collecting, and as individual artists and benefactors who contributed to and championed cultural excellence. Many belonged to women’s artists groups, which existed in part because of female artists’ being barred from (or more generally devalued by) existing groups such as the Arts & Letters Club or Royal Canadian Academy. Selected works include longstanding favourites by regional artists Eva Bradshaw and Florence Carlyle, as well as by Yvonne McKague Housser, Pegi Nicol MacLeod, and many more. Several paintings entered the collection as gifts by women’s or female-dominated groups in this region, such as the Women’s Art Association of Canada and the Volunteer Committee of Museum London.