Edwin Headley Holgate (August 19, 1892 – May 21, 1977), was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

artist,

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

, muralist, and wood-cut artist. Holgate played a major role in Montreal's art community, and the

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA; french: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, MBAM) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Squ ...

, where he both studied and taught. He was known primarily as a

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this ...

ist and for his treatment of the female nude in an outdoor setting in a series of paintings and prints during the 1930s.

Life and career

Holgate was born in Allandale, Ontario, Canada, the son of Bessie Bell (Headley) and Henry Holgate. Holgate's family moved to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

in 1895 where his father worked as an engineer. In 1897 he was sent to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

to go to school. In 1901 his family returned from Jamaica and settled in Montreal. Holgate studied at the Art Association of Montreal with

Alberta Cleland Mary Alberta Cleland (August 20, 1876 – February 25, 1960) was a Canadian Impressionist painter and educator. She was born in Montreal and studied at the Art Association of Montreal. Cleland taught at the Art Association of Montreal along ...

(beginning in 1905), William Brymner (who also taught A. Y. Jackson), and later Maurice Cullen. From 1912 until 1923, he exhibited in the annual Spring Exhibitions almost every year. From 1912 to 1914, he studied in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

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 Académ ...

but found it disappointing. He was travelling in the

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at the outset of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, and was forced to cross

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to return to Canada. He enlisted in 1916 and returned to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

with the Canadian Army. Holgate's first exhibition was held at the Arts Club of Montreal in 1922. In 1933, he had a he had a solo exhibition at the

. He taught wood engraving at the

École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savo ...

from 1928 to 1934, then with Lilias Torrance Newton directed art classes at the Museum from 1934 to 1936 and again, from 1938 to 1940. Holgate was said by A. Y. Jackson to be the instigator of the Beaver Hall Group, of which he was a member, in 1920. He was the eighth member of the

Group of Seven The Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non-enumerated member". It is official ...

— he was invited to join the group in March 1929 and showed with it in 1930 and 1931. In 1934, he was elected an associate of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor Genera ...

. He was elected a full member in 1935. He resigned in 1945 but was reinstated in 1953. He was also a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters. Holgate worked as an official Canadian war artist with the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environ ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. On his return to Montreal after the war, he found that the arts scene had changed, with the arrival of the

Automatistes Les Automatistes were a group of Québécois artistic dissidents from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The movement was founded in the early 1940s by painter Paul-Émile Borduas. Les Automatistes were so called because they were influenced by Surre ...

. He left Montreal to live in the Laurentians in 1946. In 1954, he was one of eighteen Canadian artists commissioned by the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...

to paint a

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

for the interior of one of the new Park cars entering service on the new ''

'' transcontinental train. Each the murals depicted a different national or provincial park; Holgate's was Mont-Tremblant National Park. Holgate died in 1977 and buried at

Mount Royal Cemetery Opened in 1852, Mount Royal Cemetery is a terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Temple Emanu-El Cemetery, a Reform Judaism burial ground, is within the Mount Royal grounds. T ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

. The

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

held a

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...

of his work which travelled across Canada in 1975. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts organized a second retrospective in 2005, curated by Rosalind Pepall and Brian Foss.

Notes

Bibliography

* Harper, Russell. ''Painting in Canada: A History 2nd ed.'' Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1981. * * Reid, Dennis ''A Concise History of Canadian Painting'' 2nd Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1988. .

External links

Holgate Retrospective at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holgate, Edwin 1892 births 1977 deaths 20th-century Canadian painters Anglophone Quebec people Canadian male painters People from Simcoe County Artists from Ontario Artists from Montreal Canadian portrait painters Canadian Impressionist painters Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Burials at Mount Royal Cemetery 20th-century Canadian male artists