Frederick Horsman Varley (1881-1969)

Canadian painter and a founding member of the Group of Seven. As Varley and Arthur Lismer were schoolmates, the early history of their lives is very similar. Like Lismer, Varley was born in Sheffield, studied at the Sheffield School of Art and later, the Antwerp Academy, in Antwerp, Belgium. At Antwerp, Varley had a reputation of being a heavy drinker and leading a rather bohemian life. From Antwerp, he returned to London, where he almost starved trying to support himself as an illustrator. Four years later, on his return to Yorkshire, he married and fathered two children. In 1912, Lismer once again met up with Varley - who this time was depressed and struggling to support his family. Lismer persuaded him to come to Canada, where he found work at Grip.

In Toronto, Varley soon became friendly with the other artists at Grip. He was often a difficult person to get along with because of his temperamental moods and rather unconventional ways. He did however find a close friend in Tom Thomson, who was like him in spirit. They went on weekend excursions, but rarely sketched together, as Varley preferred people to trees for subject matter.

At first, Varley concentrated mainly on portraits and established himself as a painter of Toronto's elite society. Although this brought him much needed income, he disliked painting to order, and his ways soon upset his clients. At one sitting with Vincent Massey, magnate of the Massey-Harris fortunes, the client arrived an hour late. Once he had taken his seat, Varley put down his brushes and walked away saying "You wait there. Now I'm going out for an hour." Despite these disturbances, Varley was respected as a great painter, and when the World War One broke out, he was sent to France as a Canadian War Artist. At this point, he did very poignant work. Perhaps his most famous painting is entitled, For What?. He returned from the war matured both as an artist and as an individual. At this point, his interest in painting the Canadian north was awakened, and he began painting landscapes such as Stormy Weather, Georgian Bay. Varley's concern with the world of feelings and emotions was always relayed through his work.Adapted from Canadian Government Group of Seven Web Site

Books from Alibris: Frederick Horsman Varley

Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1919-2000)

The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation.

Books from Alibris: Pierre Elliot Trudeau

Tom Thomson (1877-1917)

Take everything as it comes; the wave passes, deal with the next one.

Books from Alibris: Tom Thomson

Judith Thompson (1954-)

I think theatre has a crucial role to play in the mapping of local and international identities––the playwright must reflect the world around her/him––and that world is constantly shifting. I recently directed a group of children in a presentation of Hamlet's speech "to be or not to be" (for a 6-week enrichment cluster). Instead of a straight up presentation, I asked each child to say "to be or not to be that is the question" in their ancestral language. This began the show. Then, after "thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to" each child named an illness they had suffered. After "to sleep, perchance to dream" each child told the audience a nightmare they had had" and after the speech was finished, they repeated the ancestral languages. It was a huge success––the immigrant parents were happy to see their place of origin recognized.

Books from Alibris: Judith Thompson

Charles Taylor (1931-)

"Charles Taylor is without question one of the two or three most important social philosophers in the world today," said Keith Topper, associate professor of communication studies. "Combining a profound moral imagination with acute sensitivity to the diverse ways in which human beings find meaning in their world, he has fundamentally altered the manner in which philosophers, social scientists and many sectors of the educated public think about issues of politics, ethics, religion, secularization, cultural pluralism, human identity and human understanding."

Books from Alibris: Charles Taylor

Harry Somers (1925-1999)

Harry Somers was born in Toronto, Ontario, and showed an interest in music only in his early teens. He engaged in intensive piano studies, which were so productive that at the age of 16 he entered the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where he studied piano with Reginald Godden and Weldon Kilburn and composition with John Weinzweig, receiving scholarships in 1947 and 1949. In the late 40's, he went first to San Francisco to continue piano with E. Robert Schmitz, and then to Paris to study composition under Darius Milhaud (1949-50). - Malaspina Biography

Sheet music: Harry Somers

R. Murray Schafer (1933-)

[My projects have] to do with a much wider area than just music education. It’s building citizens, I guess in an ideal democracy. - from interview with Petra Kern in Music Therapy Today Vol VIII (2), July, 2007

Sheet music: R. Murray Schafer

Anne Savage (1896-1971)

Anne Savage was influenced initially by the Group of Seven but later developed an independent style and made a significant impact on Canadian art and education. She was a member of the Beaver Hill Hall group and President of the Canadian Group of Painters (1949, 1960). Savage was one of the first women to participate actively in the creation of a Canadian school of painting, and an early exponent of child art and creative teaching. Trained as a painter, and a self taught teacher, her success as an educator and her development as a painter were concurrent. As an artist, she was part of the vital Canadian art movements of the 30's and 40's closely linked to the The Group of Seven and the Northern Symbolist landscape tradition. In her teaching, she was influenced by the writings of Belle Boas, Marion Richardson and Herbert Read, and was associated with Arthur Lismer. - Malaspina Biography

Books from Alibris: Anne Savage

Stan Rogers (1949-1983)

God damn them all! / I was told we'd cruise the seas for American gold / We'd fire no guns-shed no tears / Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier / The last of Barrett's Privateers. - from Barrett's Privateers

Sheet music: Stan Rogers

Albert H. Robinson (1881-1956)

Albert Robinson sent two canvasses to the first Group of Seven exhibition in 1919, neither of which has been possible to locate. The painting shown here Noontime, Longue Pointe Village had been exhibited the month before. This work is a strong and expressive painting and marked Robinson as one of the boldest innovators working in Montreal at that time. (The Group of Seven: Art for a Nation, National Gallery of Canada, Charles C. Hill, McClelland & Stewart, p.312, 1995) - Malaspina Biography

Books from Alibris: Group of Seven

Sarah Robertson (1891-1948)

Sarah Robertson was member of the group of women painters, the Beaver Hall Hill group and the Canadian Group of Painters. She painted landscapes and worked with A. Y. Jackson during sketching trips. She was also influenced in her later work by Lawren Harris. - Malaspina Biography

Books from Alibris: Canadian Art

Mordecai Richler (1931-2001)

Coming from Canada, being a writer and Jewish as well, I have impeccable paranoia credentials.

Books from Alibris: Mordecai Richler

Oscar Peterson (1925-2007)

Montreal was a very active jazz center until club owners started putting in strippers instead of music. Before long, there was nothing to hear.

Sheet music: Oscar Peterson

Barbara Lally Pentland (1912-2000)

What comes from outside the country must de facto be superior. Prime example: the opening of our multi million dollar National Arts Centre with an imported French ballet company dancing to a score by a Greek composer conducted by an American born in Germany!

Before [our generation of music composers] music development was largely in the hands of imported English organists who, however sound academically, had no creative contribution to make of any general value ... At least we've started something, even if it still leaves [us] in the difficult role of pioneer. - from 1950 interview in Northern Review

Sheet music: Barbara Pentland

Michael Ondaatje (1943-)

A writer uses a pen instead of a scalpel or blow torch.

Books from Alibris: Michael Ondaatje

Susanna Moodie (1803-1885)

I have no wish for a second husband. I had enough of the first. I like to have my own way to lie down mistress, and get up master.

Books from Alibris: Susanna Moodie

Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942)

As a rule, I am very careful to be shallow and conventional where depth and originality are wasted.

Books from Alibris: Lucy Maud Montgomery

David Milne (1882-1953)

He learned drawing from a correspondence school and then failed as a magazine illustrator, so he had to settle for being a great artist instead. That youthful detour remains an endearing passage in the life of David Milne (1882-1953), the most sophisticated of Canadian painters. He's never been as famous as the Group of Seven or Emily Carr, because he didn't embrace national mythology. His concerns were less obvious: He tried to suggest a whole world with a few spare brush strokes. He saw visual magic in everyday existence and painted even Bay Street at night as a glowing wonder. He was a virtuoso. - from review of David B. Milne: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings (University of Toronto Press, two volumes, 1,324 pages, $500), by David Milne Jr. and David Silcox; Review by Robert Fulford, Globe and Mail, Dec 26, 1998

Books from Alibris: David Milne

Bill (William) Russell McNeil II (1924-2003)

We were used to sudden death in Glace Bay. Men were frequently getting killed in the mines, but we wern't used to having our young people die on distant shores so that we couldn't mourn at a wake and a funeral. If this was war we didn't like it, but we would certainly get used to it. Again and again and again. - from Voices of a War Remembered

Books from Alibris: Bill McNeil

Norman McLaren (1914-1987)

I like black and white films. I don't exactly know why - probably because there is a stylization which is removed from actual life, unlike a color film.

Books from Alibris: Norman McLaren