William Brymner: Artist, Teacher, Colleague 

5 November - 30 December, 2011
Alicia Boutillier Lecture 17 November, 7pm

Though he was a bachelor until late in his life, William Brymner (1855-1925) was a social person who surrounded himself with his contemporaries. This need for companionship and artistic community was a defining element of his life, highlighting his personal goals that lay outside the scope of painting itself.

His social activism included participation in numerous clubs, associations and academies and the result was his widespread influence on the art scene of the day.

As a teacher, colleague and mentor, Brymner was able to create places where artists of all disciplines could gather and exchange ideas amongst themselves. To Brymner this collaborative sharing was not limited to single disciplines, but instead included architects, poets, musicians, lawyers and writers; people who shared a common interest in the arts. As a teacher, he stressed individuality and had an openness to newer styles of working. One of the first to lecture on the new Impressionist art and to encourage students to paint en plein air (out in the open), Brymner’s influence led to many of his students becoming some of Canada’s best known artists.
The exhibition comprises 60 works by Brymner and by peers including Horatio Walker, Maurice Cullen, and Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, and pupils such as A.Y. Jackson, Clarence Gagnon, and Edwin Holgate. Organized and circulated by the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston.