Emily Carr

Emily Carr 1871-1945, Canadian painter. She studied (1889-c.1895) at the San Francisco School of Art and later in London and in Paris. In Victoria, British Columbia, she taught painting and visited native villages. From her study of totem poles and other indigenous art, she developed a powerful style marked by simplified forms and a fauvist intensity of color. She wrote Klee Wyck (1941) and The House of All Sorts (1944).

Bibliography: See her autobiography, Growing Pains (1946).

Carr, Emily (b Victoria, British Columbia, 13 Dec. 1871; d Victoria, 2 Mar. 1945). Canadian painter of Expressionist landscapes. 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 mainly in San Francisco, 1889–95, England, 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 her native British Columbia with passionate feeling for the power of nature, executing much of her work out of doors. Discouraged by years of neglect, she had almost ceased to paint when in 1927 she was overwhelmed when she first saw the work of the Group of Seven in Toronto. 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.

Carr, Emily (1871–1945). Canadian painter of Expressionist landscapes. 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 mainly in San Francisco, 1889–95; England, 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 her native British Columbia with passionate feeling for the power of nature, executing much of her work out of doors. Discouraged by years of neglect, she had almost ceased to paint when in 1927 she was overwhelmed when she first saw the work of the Group of Seven in Toronto. 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.