Arthur Lismer

Lismer was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, the son of Harriet and Edward Lismer, a draper's buyer.[1] At age thirteen, he apprenticed at a photo-engraving company. He was awarded a scholarship, and used this time to take evening classes at the Sheffield School of Art from 1898 until 1905. In 1905, he moved to Antwerp, Belgium, where he studied art at the Academie Royale.

Lismer immigrated to Canada in 1911, settled in Toronto, Ontario, and took a job with Grip Ltd.

Lismer's brother, Ted, remained in Sheffield and became a notable trade unionist and communist activist.[2]

From 1916 to 1919 Lismer served as the President of the Victoria College of Art (now NSCAD University).

RMS Olympic in dazzle at Pier 2 in Halifax, Nova Scotia

In wartime Halifax, Lismer was inspired by the shipping and naval activity of the port, notably the dramatically painted dazzle camouflaged ships. This work came to the attention of Lord Beaverbrook who arranged for Lismer to be commissioned as an official war artist.[3] His best-known work from the war years depicted what he observed and learned about in Halifax, Nova Scotia: Mine sweeping, convoying, patrolling and harbor defense.[4] He also did some sketches of the Halifax Explosion.[5]

Group of seven artists: Frederick Varley, A. Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris, Fairley, Frank Johnston (artist), Arthur Lismer, and J. E. H. MacDonald

The collaboration of four artists at Grip gradually evolved into the Group of Seven, whose work was intended to contribute to the process of giving Canada a distinctive national voice in painting.[6][upper-alpha 1] He also worked with the cadre at Grip.[7]

Arthur Lismer's style was influenced by his pre-Canadian experience (primarily in Antwerp), where he found the Barbizon and post-impressionist movements a key inspiration. Collaborating with the group of artists who would, in 1919, become the Group of Seven, Lismer exhibited the characteristic post-impressionist style, and spiritual connection with the landscape that would embody that group's work. That same year, he became the first art director of the Hart House Theatre until 1921.[8]

Like the other members of the Group of Seven many of his works began as small en plein air sketches in oil on hardboard.[9]

During the Centennial of the City of Toronto, in 1934, Lismer was on the Pictures Committee. His work in art education was effective; and this service to the wider community caused Lismer to become influential in ways not always achieved by his artist colleagues. For example, he started a children's art program at the Art Gallery of Toronto, which became successful in the 1930s.[10] In 1936, as Lismer`s prominence in the field of art education involved him in international travels, he went on a one-year tour of South Africa. Together with art educator Norah McCullough, he organized art education programmes, lectured on Canadian art and gave workshops for teachers. On the trip, he painted extensively in watercolour.[11]

Several members of the Group of Seven including Lismer became members of the Canadian Group of Painters.[12] In 1967, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Lismer died on March 23, 1969, in Montreal, Quebec, and was buried alongside other members of the original Seven at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection Grounds.

In Toronto, Lismer Hall, the auditorium at Humberside Collegiate Institute is named in his honour. He painted one of the largest murals in Canada for the school during the 1930s that hangs on the auditorium's walls today.[13]

• Canadian official war artists
• War artist
• War art

• Boulet, Roger; Group of Seven and Tom Thomson (1982), The Canadian Earth, M. Bernard Loates, Cerebrus Publishing, ISBN 0920016103

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arthur Lismer.

• Lismer, a NFB documentary
• Arthur Lismer, Lethbridge College Buchanan Art Collection
• Gallery of Lismer's works
• "Arthur Lismer: Painter and Educator", Harvard Square Library