Carr, Emily

Carr, Emily (1871–1945). Canadian painter of Expressionist landscapes, born in Victoria, British Columbia. She felt the urge to paint from an early age, but her artistic development was slow and halting, interrupted by ill-health and the need to undertake other work to earn a living. Her training was principally in San Francisco, 1889–95, England (mainly at Westminster School of Art), 1899–1904, and Paris, 1910–11. During her stay in France she probably studied briefly with the New Zealand painter Frances Hodgkins, but the main influence on her at this time was the work of the Fauves. After her return to Canada she painted the landscape of British Columbia with passionate feeling for the power of nature, executing much of her work out of doors. She had little success, however, and discouraged by years of neglect, she had almost ceased to paint when in 1927 she first saw the work of the Group of Seven in Toronto. The effect was overwhelming: ‘Oh, God, what have I seen? Where have I been? Something has spoken to the very soul of me, wonderful, mighty, not of this world. Chords way down in my being have been touched. Dumb notes have struck chords of wonderful tone. Something has called out of somewhere. Something in me is trying to answer … Jackson, Johnson, Varley, Lismer, Harris—up-up-up-up-up!’ Thereafter she worked with renewed energy and deepened spirituality, overcoming her earlier neglect to attain the status of a national heroine. She wrote several autobiographical books, including The House of All Sorts (1944), describing her experiences as the owner of a boarding house, and Growing Pains (1946). Her work is well represented in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.