KATHLEEN MUNN (1887/1974), CANADIAN PAINTER – When art is an adventure, not a habit

KATHLEEN MUNN 1/3 – She was born to a middle-class family in Toronto in 1887. Her family ran a store, living in the apartment above. Creating abstract paintings in the 1910s, she was one of the first in Canada who used abstraction. In 1904 she began art education, attending the Westbourne School in Toronto. In 1909, she began to show her works in exhibitions with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In 1912, she left Toronto to begin her studies at the Art Students League in New York City https://ago.ca/?q=home

KATHLEEN MUNN 2/3 – During the 1920s, she was part of community of artists, who shaped Canadian art. These days, art critics of her town were not sure about her pioneering innovations. She developed a devotion to international modernism and by 1920 her style had evolved to the hard-edge geometric fragmentation of natural form. Painting, she sought to convey spiritual truths within a formal order. She transformed the human figure (and also pastoral scenes), offering special ways of seeing the world. https://www.aci-iac.ca/kathleen-munn

KATHLEEN MUNN 3/3 – Art for her was not a goal to reach, but the way of life. She was extraordinary in many ways, because she created art for art’s sake, and was highly meticulous. Due to family obligations, she stopped making art around 1939. Rediscovered after her death, she became a major figure in Canadian art, collected in important private and public collections. You can admire her works in the Art Gallery of Hamilton https://www.artgalleryofhamilton.com/

The intellectual property of the images that appear in this blog correspond to their authors. The sole purpose of this site, is to spread the knowledge of these artists and that other people enjoy their works. To pursue this issue, you can digit: http://meetingbenches.com/2017/09/culture-nature-canadian-landscapes/3