Isabel McLaughlin

Isabel Grace McLaughlin, CM OC OOnt (10 October 1903 - 26 November 2002) was a Canadian visual artist, patron and philanthropist. She was an early Modernist Canadian painter specializing in landscapes and still life with a strong interest in design.[1]

Randolph Hewton, Isabel McLaughlin, Gordon Webber, Audrey Taylor, Prudence Heward and Rody Kenny Courtice, around 1935

Life
Whitefish Falls in 1936. Top row: Randolph Hewton, Mr. Whittall, Charles Comfort, Yvonne McKague Housser. Middle row: Isabel McLaughlin, Gordon Webber, Bennie Hewton. Bottom row: Hal Hayden, Audrey Taylor, Prudence Heward, Rody Kenny Courtice, Mr. Macdonald.

Born in Oshawa, Ontario, McLaughlin was the third of five daughters to the founder of General Motors of Canada, President Col. Robert Samuel McLaughlin and Adelaide Mowbray McLaughlin. She studied art at the Ontario College of Art between 1926 and 1930 under Group of 7 member Arthur Lismer and Yvonne McKague Housser, the latter of whom she referred to as "remarkable".[2]:12 McLaughlin studied in Paris 1929, Vienna 1930 and with Hans Hofmann ca. 1947-52.[1] McLaughlin was to become lifelong friends with McKague Housser and the two often went on painting excursions together. In 1948 McKague Housser painted a watercolour depicting McLaughlin titled Isabel the Archaeologist, Cap Chat River.[2]:69

McLaughlin became an executive member of the Heliconian Club in Toronto.[3] In 1933 she was a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters and served as its first woman president in 1939.[4] McLaughlin was also a member of the Ontario Society of Artists.

On December 1, 1987 McLaughlin made a donation of art work from her personal collection of works by other artists to The Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa. Some of these artists included Prudence Heward, Louis Archambault, B. C. Binning, André Charles Biéler, Emil Bistram, Emily Carr, Paraskeva Clark, Lyonel Feininger, Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Alexandra Luke, Peter Haworth, Bobs Cogill Haworth, Hans Hofmann, J. E. H. MacDonald, Anne Savage, Irene Kindness, Arthur Lismer, and Sarah Robertson among others.[5]

McLaughlin was the recipient of the Order of Ontario in 1993 and the Order of Canada in 1997.[6]

Legacy

McLaughlin was the subject of an authorized portrait sculptures by Florence Wyle.[7] A mid-life portrait photograph was authorized by Reva Brooks in the 1950s.

Following her death McLaughlin's archives was donated to Queen's University archives.[8]

References
  1. The Canadian Encyclopedia, The Canadian Encyclopedia, retrieved 2009-10-17
  2. Joan Murray (1995). The Art of Yvonne McKague Housser. The Robert McLaughlin Gallery. p. 12. ISBN 0-921500-11-4.
  3. Huneault, Kristina; Anderson, Janice (2012-04-11). Rethinking Professionalism: Women and Art in Canada, 1850-1970. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-7735-3966-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  4. Canadian Women Artists History Initiative, retrieved 2009-10-17
  5. Joan Murray (1987), Part 1 The Isabel McLaughlin Gift Official Opening 1987, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery
  6. Appointments to the Order of Canada, Donald George Jackson, C.M, retrieved 2009-10-17
  7. Joan Murray (2003), An Extraordinary Life, Isabel McLaughlin, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, ISBN 0-921500-68-8
  8. 2007 News Exploring Techniques, Queen's University Archives, archived from the original on 2011-06-20, retrieved 2009-10-17

Further reading
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