Maurice Cullen
Born
Maurice Galbraith Cullen

(1866-06-06)6 June 1866
St. John's, Newfoundland Colony
Died28 March 1934(1934-03-28) (aged 67)
Chambly, Quebec, Canada
EducationMontreal, Conseil des Arts et Manufactures (sculpture); Montreal, with sculptor Louis-Philippe Hébert, 1880s; Paris, École des Beaux Arts, with Élie Delaunay, 1889–1892, turned from sculpture to painting; Paris, with Alfred Philippe Roll
Known forPainter, teacher at Art Association of Montreal (1911)
MovementImpressionism
SpouseBarbara Merchant Pilot (married 1910)
AwardsAssociate, Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1895; Associate, Royal Canadian Academy, 1899; member, R.C.A., 1907

Maurice Cullen RCA (June 6, 1866 – March 28, 1934) is considered to be one of the first Impressionist artists in Canada. He is best known for his paintings of snow and his depictions of ice harvest scenes, featuring horse-drawn sleighs traveling across the frozen waters of Quebec during winter.

Life and work

Cullen was born in St. John's, Newfoundland Colony.[1] In 1870 his family moved to Montreal, Quebec where he began his art training studying sculpture at the Conseil des Arts et Manufactures and with the sculptor Louis-Philippe Hébert at the Monument National.[2][3] In 1888, he travelled to Paris and took courses at the École des Beaux-Arts with Jean-Léon Gérôme and at the Académie Colarossi with Gustave Courtois and L.A. Rixens. He later studied at the Académie Julian and was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in 1890 and studied with Élie Delaunay and Alfred Philippe Roll.

Although he received academic training, he was influenced in his painting by the Impressionists, especially Claude Monet and, as early as 1891, critics gave positive reviews to his Impressionist-influenced work. In 1895, the French Government purchased a painting entitled Été from the Société's annual salon (now at the Musée de Pithiviers) and he was elected an associate of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts – the first Canadian to be so honoured.

However, in 1895,, he returned to Montreal and made it his home, turning from French subjects to Canadian ones, with an emphasis on snowscapes and using a modified Impressionist technique.[3] Besides the Quebec landscape, he became the chronicler of the city. In 1910, he married Barbara Merchant Pilot, a widow whose son, his stepson, grew up to be the artist Robert Wakeham Pilot. In the same year, he was invited to be a member of the progressive Canadian Art Club (1910).[3] Cullen set an example for other Canadian painters. A. Y. Jackson said of him,

"To us, he was a hero."[3]

Beginning in January 1918, Cullen served with Canadian forces in the First World War. He came to the attention of Lord Beaverbrook, who arranged for him to be commissioned as one of the Canadian official war artists along with Frederick Varley, J.W. Beatty and C. W. Simpson.[4]

Cullen died March 28, 1934, at Chambly, Québec.[1]

Exhibitions

William Robinson Watson (1887–1973) in Montreal, of Watson Art Gallery, represented Cullen and published a book on him in 1931.[5] An exhibition, Legacies of Impressionism in Canada: Three Exhibitions, was held from January 31 to April 19, 2009 at the Vancouver Art Gallery. In 2019, the National Gallery of Canada travelling show, Canada and Impressionism: New Horizons, opened in Munich. It came to the National Gallery in 2022.

Selected works

Honours

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Cybermuse, Maurice Cullen, bio notes Archived 2007-08-16 at archive.today
  2. ↑ "Maurice Cullen". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Murray, Joan (1973). Impressionism in Canada, 1895-1935. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario. p. 18. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  4. ↑ Davis, Ann. (1992). The Logic of Ecstasy: Canadian Mystical Painting, 1920–1940, p. 30., p. 30, at Google Books
  5. ↑ "Watson Art Galleries fonds: Finding Aid". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Cullen, Maurice. "Collection". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
  7. ↑ "Members since 1880". Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  8. ↑ "Maurice Galbraith Cullen National Historic Person". Parks Canada. Retrieved 2010-04-02.

Bibliography

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