Teaching in Canada, 1908-1910
Watercolour ‘Illicilleweat Glacier, Glacier National Park, British Columbia’, c 1909
Kathleen travelled alone to teach Art in Canada, aged 29-31 years
In March 1908, both Fredrick Brown, her tutor from the Slade School of Fine Art, and the Rev WF Geikie-Cobb DD wrote testimonials for Kathleen about her artistic skills and ability to teach art, and she gained a position as Head of Art at Havergal College, Toronto, Canada for two years [1].
Independently, Kathleen as a single young women (29 years) travelled on the Adriatic Liner from Southampton to New York arriving on Sept 3, 1908, for onward travel to Toronto, Ontario. The journey would have taken 7-10 days (ref. New York Arriving Passengers record).
Watercolour ‘Toronto Town Hall’, 1908
Whilst based in Toronto, Kathleen used her holiday leave to travel and paint across Canada. Kathleen would have made use of the new transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway to access the hotels built at key locations [2]. But she still would have needed to travel and walk with her painting kit and full-length skirts, to reach the good vantage points to paint en plein air, and capture views of the stunning scenery which are still recognisable today.
Watercolour ‘View Canadian Rockies, Alberta’, c 1909
The series of 13 watercolours she produced, show travel route(s) across Canada. The painting titles show that she travelled and painted sights of glaciers and lakes through the Canadian Rockies and national parks - in Alberta: Banff National Park (‘Canadian Rockies’, ‘View Canadian Rockies, ‘Rocky Mountains from Banff, and ‘Lake Louise’), and Yoho National Park (‘Emerald Lake’); and in British Columbia: Field (‘Kicking Horse River’), Glacier National Park (‘Illecillewaet Glacier’), Hope (‘Fraser River’) ending in Vancouver (‘Burrard Inlet’).
Watercolour ‘Burrard Inlet Vancouver, British Columbia’, c 1909
Kathleen’s tutors in watercolours at the Slade School of Fine Art (Alfred Rich and Walter Russell), employed the English watercolour tradition of painting quickly en plein air, using looser and more spontaneous brush techniques that produced an Impressionistic quality, and a natural approach to painting which capture the emotions that a subject provokes rather than accurately reproducing a scene [3]. These skills and attributes and loose brushwork are evident in Kathleen’s watercolour pieces, and her habit of painting en plein air led to her production of quick portrait studies and small landscapes.
The “Commonwealth Landscapes” exhibitions of 1954 and 1955 included Kathleen’s artworks, such as the painting of Lake Louise shown below. (ref. exhibition records).
Watercolour ‘Lake Louise, Banff National Park, Alberta’, c 1909
In 1909, Kathleen entered artwork in the Montreal Museum of Art (known then as the Art Association of Montreal) Spring Exhibition (three watercolours), and in two Royal Canadian Academy of Arts exhibitions in Ottawa and Hamilton (three different paintings) – the titles imply she took some of her artwork with her from England, unless she repainted them. The exhibition catalogues also show list prices [4, 5].
In 1910, the Principle of Havergal College, Mrs Ellen Knox, wrote testimonial letters for Kathleen before she returned to England (ref. letters, newspaper article, correspondence, catalogues).
References
Havergal College, Toronto, Canada, founded in 1894 as a Church of England Ladies' College, under principal Ellen Mary Knox. In 1898, a new building was constructed for the school at 354 Jarvis Street. By 1903, Havergal College had 120 boarders and 200 day girls, a staff of 20 resident teachers (chiefly from English universities) and a number of non-resident visiting teachers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havergal_College
Canadian Tourism. Between 1885 and 1914, Canada marketed its magnificent scenery and recreational possibilities to Britons. The new transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway made it possible to cross Canada in a matter of days rather than months. This railway led to the opening of restaurants and hotels at key locations in the Canadian Rockies and National Parks. [ref. “The Empire Traveller”: Purposeful Tourism in Western Canada, 1885-1914 by Monica Accola, BA Degree, Department of History, University of Victoria, April 26, 2019]
Alfred William Rich: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_William_Rich
Evelyn de R. McMann, “Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, formerly Art Association of Montreal: Spring Exhibitions 1880-1979”, University of Toronto Press, p372
Evelyn de R. McMann, “Royal Canadian Academy of Arts: Exhibitions and Members 1880-1979”, University of Toronto Press, p400
