Maurice Cullen (June 6, 1866 – March 28, 1934) is considered to be the father of Canadian

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

because he was the first artist to skillfully adapted French Impressionism to Canadian conditions. He is best known for his paintings of snow and his depictions of ice harvest scenes, featuring horse-drawn sleighs traveling across the frozen waters of Quebec during winter. The Laurentians were his greatest love and he painted there often. He excelled in painting crisp northern light.

Life and work

Cullen was born in St. John's,

Newfoundland Colony Newfoundland was an English, and later British, colony established in 1610 on the island of Newfoundland. That followed decades of sporadic English settlement on the island, which was at first only seasonal. Newfoundland was made a Crown colony ...

.Cybermuse
Maurice Cullen, bio notes
His parents were James Cullen of St. John’s and Sarah Galbraith Ward of Montreal. In 1870 his family moved to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec where he began his art training studying sculpture at the Conseil des Arts et Manufactures and with the sculptor Louis-Philippe Hébert at the Monument National. Maurice Cullen went to Paris in 1889 to study sculpture on the advice of Hébert. He entered the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

and had not been there long when, according to Montreal art dealer William R. Watson he realized his vocation was painting and he "exchanged his chisel for a brush." Besides the Quebec landscape, with

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (; 11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academic painting, academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living art ...

and at the

Académie Colarossi The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...

with Gustave Courtois and L.A. Rixens. He later studied at the

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 ...

and was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in 1890 and studied with Élie Delaunay and

Alfred Philippe Roll Alfred Philippe Roll (1 March 1846 – 27 October 1919) was a French painter. Career Roll studied at École des Beaux-Arts, where he was taught by Jean-Léon Gérôme, Henri-Joseph Harpignies, Charles-François Daubigny and Léon Bonnat. He ...

. Although he received academic training, he was influenced in his painting by the Impressionists, especially

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

and, as early as 1891, critics gave positive reviews to his Impressionist-influenced work. In 1895, the French Government purchased a painting entitled ''Été'' from the Société's annual salon (now at the Musée de Pithiviers) and he was elected an associate of the

Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA; ; ) was the term under which two groups of French artists united, the first for some exhibitions in the early 1860s, the second since 1890 for annual exhibitions. 1862 Established in 1862 by the painter a ...

– the first Canadian to be so honoured. However, in 1895, he returned to Montreal and made it his home, turning from French subjects to Canadian ones, with an emphasis on snowscapes and using a modified Impressionist technique. Besides the Quebec landscape, he became the chronicler of the city, darkening his palette. In 1899, he was elected an associate member 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 Victoria of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria on 16 ...

(he was elected a full member in 1907). After about 1900 he achieved commercial and critical success. He won a bronze medal in 1901 at the Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo and in 1904, another at the Canadian exhibition at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, (the St. Louis World's Fair). In 1910, he married Barbara Merchant Pilot, a widow whose son, his stepson, grew up to be the artist Robert Wakeham Pilot. In the same year, he was invited to be a member of the progressive Canadian Art Club (1910). In 1911, he won the Jessie Dow Prize at the Art Association of Montreal. Cullen set an example for Canadian painters and progressive artists abroad. A. Y. Jackson said of him,

"To us, he was a hero."

Beginning in January 1918, Cullen served with Canadian forces with the rank of Captain in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He came to the attention of

Lord Beaverbrook William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics of the first half of the 20th century ...

, who arranged for him to be commissioned as one of the

Canadian official war artists Canadian official war artists create an artistic rendering of war through the media of visual, digital installations, film, poetry, choreography, music, etc., by showing its impact as men and women are shown waiting, preparing, fighting, suffering, ...

along with Frederick Varley, J.W. Beatty and C. W. Simpson. He was recognized by two

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ', "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 software development, popular culture, and the arts. ...

s of his work in his lifetime: one organized by the Quebec government in 1930, one by the Watson Art Galleries in 1934. Cullen died March 28, 1934, at Chambly,

Québec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

Exhibitions

William Robinson Watson (1887–1973) in Montreal, of Watson Art Gallery, represented Cullen and published a book on him in 1931. In 2000, his

was held in Montreal by Alan Klinkhoff Gallery with a catalogue essay by Conrad Graham. An exhibition, ''Legacies of Impressionism in Canada: Three Exhibitions'', was held from January 31 to April 19, 2009 at the

Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Fr ...

. In 2019, the

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 ...

travelling show, ''Canada and Impressionism: New Horizons, 1880-1930'', opened in Munich. It came to the National Gallery of Canada in 2022.

Selected works

File:Maurice Cullen - The Mill Stream.jpg, ''The Mill Stream (ca 1905)'', National Gallery of Canada. File:Maurice Cullen - Customs Port, Venice.jpg, ''Customs Port, Venice (1897)'', National Gallery of Canada File:Maurice Cullen - À la marée montante, Le Pouldu, Bretagne.JPG, ''Rising Tide, Le Pouldu, Bretagne (1901)'', Musée des beaux-arts du Québec File:Snowfall, Lac Tremblant.jpg, Snowfall, Lac Tremblant (1922) Private Collection File:Maurice Cullen - Winter Evening, Quebec.jpg, ''Winter Evening, Quebec (ca 1905)'', National Gallery of Canada File:Maurice Cullen - Paysage de l'Ile d'Orléans.jpg, ''Ile d'Orleans landscape'', Musée de la civilisation, Quebec File:Maurice Galbraith Cullen - No Man's Land.jpg, ''No Man's Land (Douai plain, France) (1920)'', Canadian War Museum

Honours

* First Canadian to be elected associate member of Société nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1895; *

, elected full member 1907; * Bronze medal, Canadian exhibition at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri, 1904; * Awarded Jessie Dow Prize, Art Association of Montreal, 1911, 1913; * Elected first vice-president of Arts Club, Montreal (founded at his studio), 1912; * He was declared a Canadian Person of National Historic Significance in 1944;

Life and work

Exhibitions

Selected works

Honours

See also

Notes

Further reading