Caroline Helena Armington (1875–1939) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

born artist. Armington worked in a number of mediums including a large body of

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...

s (551). Her main practice consisted of painting and

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proces ...

. In addition to being an artist, she also trained at

Guelph General Hospital Guelph General Hospital is a medical care facility in Guelph, Ontario, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacif ...

as a nurse.

Biography

Caroline Helena Wilkinson was born on September 11, 1875, in

Brampton Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. From 1892 to 1899 she took art studies under J. W. L. Forster. She traveled to New York in 1899, where she worked as a nurse. The following year she sailed to Europe and married Frank Armington. She moved back to Canada during 1900–01. From 1905 to 1910, the couple returned to study in Paris at the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière () is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the A ...

and

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

. In 1908, Caroline's painting ''Paysanne Hollandaise'' was accepted at the Salon des Artistes Francais' annual exhibition, held at the Grand Palais, Paris. They assisted the American Ambulance Hospital in Paris from 1914 to 1918, with Caroline working as a nurse and Frank as an orderly. Armington's etching of

Bayeux Cathedral Bayeux Cathedral, also known as Cathedral of Our Lady of Bayeux (French language, French: ''Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux''), is a Roman Catholic church architecture, church located in the town of Bayeux in Normandy, France. A Monument histori ...

was the May 1924 cover of ''Brooklyn Life'' magazine. According to the magazine article, collections of her etchings were in the following museums at the time: Luxembourg and

Petit Palais The (; ) is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Built for the Exposition Universelle (1900), 1900 Exposition Universelle ("universal exhibition"), it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts (''Musée des beaux-arts ...

, Paris;

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

and

South Kensington Museum South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

, London; Bibliographic de Belgique, Brussels; Liege;

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

; and

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

, Ottawa, Canada. Paysanne Hollandaise by Caroline Armington

Armington left Paris in 1939 and moved to New York. She died there on October 25, 1939.

Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the third-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5.36 million v ...

* The Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives *

The National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

, Washington DC * The

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

References

Sources and further reading

* A listing of 257 etchings (out of 551 printed by the artist) drawn from the Peel Art Gallery Museum + Archives collection. The standard monograph and catalogue, with thorough descriptions of hundreds of prints. Note - this is not a complete catalogue as it only lists the prints in the collection of the Peel Art Gallery at the time of publication. * * * *

External links

www.artistarchive.com
A catalogue of over 550 prints, many with images.
pamascollection
The Caroline and Frank Armington Collection at Peel Art Gallery Museum + Archives
Caroline Armington etchings
A compilation of 635 titles of Caroline Armington etchings (from Caroline Armington etching record books and other sources)
Public Collections
Museums, galleries, libraries and public collections which have one or more Caroline Armington’s prints in their collection)
Signatures
(A compilation of Caroline Armington’ signatures and initials found on her prints) {{DEFAULTSORT:Armington, Caroline Helena 1875 births 1939 deaths Canadian etchers 20th-century Canadian painters American women printmakers 20th-century American printmakers Women etchers 20th-century etchers Canadian emigrants to the United States 20th-century American women artists 20th-century Canadian women painters Académie Julian alumni