Emily Carr

1871-1945

Canadian Artist

Carr is among Canada’s most spiritual artists. She was born in Victoria, British Columbia, 1871. Both of Emily’s parents died before she was fourteen, and the household was managed by her eldest sisters. Emily persuaded the family guardian to allow her to study art in San Francisco’s California School of Art where she stayed from 1891 to 1893. Between 1905 and 1910, she returned to the northern British Columbia coast during the summer to paint canvases of Indian villages and totem poles. She continued painting Indian villages in her newly acquired style, but the public, which also cost her teaching opportunities, rejected these works. In 1933, she was elected member of the Canadian Group Painters and exhibited in several Group of Seven exhibitions. She received many Canadian and U.S. awards, and her work hangs in many important international public and private collections.