The Women’s Art Association of Canada:
A Legacy Show
On View
DIGNAM GALLERY
Reception
March 4, 2-4 p.m.
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Exhibition Details:
The Women’s Art Association of Canada:
A Legacy Show
DIGNAM GALLERY
February 22 – March 11, 2023
Tuesday – Saturday
11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Reception
March 4, 2-4 p.m.
Guest Speaker:
Christine Boyanoski
ADMISSION
Free Admission /
Donations Appreciated
CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION
Charitable # 119026417
To visit, or for more information:
(416) 922-2060, or
waac@womensartofcanada.ca
FOLLOW US:
twitter/facebook/instagram
@womensartofcan
The Women’s Art Association of Canada is pleased to present: “The Women’s Art Association of Canada: A Legacy Show”.
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To coincide with this year’s International Women’s Day on March 8, the WAAC Arts Committee is hosting a legacy exhibition of artworks by Mary Ella Dignam and her circle of women artists.
Scroll down to view a preview of select works from the exhibition.
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MARY ELLA DIGNAM
Mary E. Dignam (née Williams), painter and founder of the Women’s Art Association of Canada (born 13 January 1857 in Port Burwell, ON; died 6 September 1938 in Toronto, ON). Mary E. Dignam was the first president of the Women’s Art Association, which was incorporated in Toronto in 1892. Dignam was an advocate for women’s rights and a promoter of other women artists. In her paintings she employed pastels, watercolours and oils; she focused primarily on floral studies, genre scenes and landscapes. Initially working in the Dutch style popular at the end of the 19th century, Dignam’s later work was influenced by Impressionism.
Artistic Training, Travel and Teaching
Dignam’s early studies took place at the Western School of Art Design in London, Ontario. In 1886 she left Ontario to undertake training at the Art Students’ League in New York City under H. Thompson, William Merritt Chase and Kenyon Cox. Like many Canadian artists in the early 20th century, she travelled to London, England and Paris, studying at the Parisian ateliers of Luc-Olivier Merson (1846–1920), a French painter known for his postage stamp and currency designs, and French academic painter Louis-Joseph-Raphaël Collin (1850–1916). She subsequently travelled to Italy and Holland in order to view art and to paint.
After she returned from studying in Europe, Dignam established the Art Studios of Moulton Ladies’ College at McMaster University, where she subsequently taught. Dignam was one of the first Canadian art educators to provide female art students with nude models in life drawing classes. The ability to draw the nude human form had long been regarded as fundamental knowledge for an artist to have according to the European academic curriculum. Women artists who did not have access to nude models were therefore relegated to the margins of the artistic profession.
Women’s Art Association of Canada
Dignam founded the Women’s Art Club in 1886; the Club was eventually renamed the Women’s Art Association of Canada, which was registered in 1892. The Women’s Art Association was significant for being the first organization in Canada to be comprised solely of professional women artists. There was a need for this kind of organization, as women artists were still regarded chiefly as amateurs at this time. Dignam was the association’s first president (1892–1913).
(from www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca)
