John Goodwin Lyman
Encyclopedia
John Goodwin Lyman was a Canadian modernist painter active largely in Montreal. In the 1930s he did much to promote modern art in Canada, founding the Contemporary Art Society in 1939. Stylistically he opposed both the Group of Seven
and the Canadian Group of Painters
, painting in a more "refined" style influenced by the School of Paris
.
around the time that he was born. As their house was in the process of being built, Mrs. Lyman spent the fall of 1886 at her parents' house in Biddeford, Maine, where she gave birth. She died shortly before John's second birthday.
. January of next year found him back in Paris, where he studied at Académie Julian
under Laurens
. There he formed a friendship with fellow Canadian James Wilson Morrice
. Lyman enrolled at the Academie Matisse in the fall of 1909, which he left due to illness the next spring, returning to Montreal in the summer of 1910. Despite the brevity of his encounter with the master, Matisse would be a primary influence upon Lyman in the years to come.
That summer he married Corrine St. Pierre, and the two spent the next two years traveling intermittently in France. Upon his return to Montreal he exhibited four Fauve
inspired works in the spring exhibit of the Art Academy of Montreal, which were met with great vitriol in the conservative press of Quebec. Another exhibit of forty-two oil paintings, his first one man show, opened on May twenty-first and received a similar reaction.
. It closed after just over a year due to lack of profit. In 1936 he began to write a column on art for The Montrealer that ran through 1942. The years 1936-39 saw three more one man shows, including one in New York City in May 1937.
, and in December of that year they exhibited together as The Eastern Group of Painters
. The Contemporary Arts Society was formally organized in January 1939, with Lyman as its first president. Through this body he organized exhibits of modern European art in Montreal, the first of which, titled "Art of Our Day" opened in May 1939. It included work by Kandinsky, Derain, and Modigliani
. The first exhibit of the group was held in December 1939. By 1948 the CAS was rent by opposing factions with Paul-Emile Borduas
and Alfred Pellan
at their heads. After Borduas' election as president of the group in 1948, Pellan withdrew his group from the society, upon which Borduas resigned. Lyman, seeing that the CAS could no longer effectively fulfill its purpose, made a motion to dissolve the body. This was accepted at a meeting on November 18, 1948.
of Borduas and pure abstraction. In 1949 he accepted a professorship at McGill University
, becoming the director of the fine arts department in 1952.
Matisse, and other Fauvist
painters, were the primary influence upon Lyman's work. His paintings were the first in this style to be exhibited in Canada, and his exhibit openings were met with derision in the popular press. In the 1920s, however, Lyman's work was more readily accepted. This was partly because of greater public exposure to modern art from Europe, and partly because of a change in Lyman's painting style.
Woman With a White Collar particularly shows Fauvist
influence in the handling of the facial planes and the somewhat arbitrary use of color, and has been compared to similar portraits by Matisse. By the time it was painted Lyman had developed a personal style that was "wonderfully calm, classical", as evident in the relatively muted colors and smooth paint-handling.
Group of Seven (artists)
The Group of Seven, sometimes known as the Algonquin school, were a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920-1933, originally consisting of Franklin Carmichael , Lawren Harris , A. Y. Jackson , Franz Johnston , Arthur Lismer , J. E. H. MacDonald , and Frederick Varley...
and the Canadian Group of Painters
Canadian Group of Painters
The Canadian Group of Painters was a collective of 28 painters from across Canada which came together as group in 1933. They succeeded the disbanded Group of Seven, whose paintings of the Canadian wilderness had been a strong influence on Canadian art....
, painting in a more "refined" style influenced by the School of Paris
School of Paris
School of Paris refers to two distinct groups of artists — a group of medieval manuscript illuminators, and a group of non-French artists working in Paris before World War I...
.
Childhood
Lyman's parents were Americans who emigrated to Victoria, B.C., and moved to MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
around the time that he was born. As their house was in the process of being built, Mrs. Lyman spent the fall of 1886 at her parents' house in Biddeford, Maine, where she gave birth. She died shortly before John's second birthday.
Education
After spending two years at McGill University, Lyman departed for Paris in spring of 1907, where he studied art until the fall, when at his father's urging he returned to study architecture at the Royal College of ArtRoyal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...
. January of next year found him back in Paris, where he studied at Académie Julian
Académie Julian
The Académie Julian was an art school in Paris, France.Rodolphe Julian established the Académie Julian in 1868 at the Passage des Panoramas, as a private studio school for art students. The Académie Julian not only prepared students to the exams at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, but offered...
under Laurens
Jean-Paul Laurens
Jean-Paul Laurens , was a French painter and sculptor, and one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style.Born in Fourquevaux, he was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and Alexandre Bida...
. There he formed a friendship with fellow Canadian James Wilson Morrice
James Wilson Morrice
James Wilson Morrice was a significant Canadian landscape painter. He studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, France, where he lived for most of his career.-Biography:...
. Lyman enrolled at the Academie Matisse in the fall of 1909, which he left due to illness the next spring, returning to Montreal in the summer of 1910. Despite the brevity of his encounter with the master, Matisse would be a primary influence upon Lyman in the years to come.
Early career
Fauvism
Fauvism is the style of les Fauves , a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism...
inspired works in the spring exhibit of the Art Academy of Montreal, which were met with great vitriol in the conservative press of Quebec. Another exhibit of forty-two oil paintings, his first one man show, opened on May twenty-first and received a similar reaction.
Years of Exile (1913-31)
Due to his rejection in his native country, Lyman and his wife spent twenty-eight peripatetic years living in France, Spain, and North Africa. He bought a villa in Southern France in 1922, where he corresponded with Matisse. In October 1927 he briefly returned to Montreal for the opening of his second one man show. The Great Depression lessened his income, forcing him to return to Montreal in 1931.Return to Montreal (1931-1948)
A third one man show was held in Montreal in February 1931. In November of that year Lyman began his attempts to bring European ideas of modern art to Canada with the opening of his Atelier, an academy-style school of art, established under the auspices of McGill UniversityMcGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
. It closed after just over a year due to lack of profit. In 1936 he began to write a column on art for The Montrealer that ran through 1942. The years 1936-39 saw three more one man shows, including one in New York City in May 1937.
The Contemporary Arts Society
In 1938 Lyman began to gather together Montreal painters who were disillusioned with the Canadian Group and The Group of SevenGroup of Seven (artists)
The Group of Seven, sometimes known as the Algonquin school, were a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920-1933, originally consisting of Franklin Carmichael , Lawren Harris , A. Y. Jackson , Franz Johnston , Arthur Lismer , J. E. H. MacDonald , and Frederick Varley...
, and in December of that year they exhibited together as The Eastern Group of Painters
Eastern Group of Painters
The Eastern Group of Painters was a Canadian artists collective founded in 1938 in Montreal, Quebec. The group included Montreal artists whose common interest was painting and an art for art's sake aesthetic, not the espousal of a nationalist theory as was the case with the Group of Seven or the...
. The Contemporary Arts Society was formally organized in January 1939, with Lyman as its first president. Through this body he organized exhibits of modern European art in Montreal, the first of which, titled "Art of Our Day" opened in May 1939. It included work by Kandinsky, Derain, and Modigliani
Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form...
. The first exhibit of the group was held in December 1939. By 1948 the CAS was rent by opposing factions with Paul-Emile Borduas
Paul-Émile Borduas
Paul-Émile Borduas was a Canadian painter known for his abstract paintings. He was also an activist for the separation of church and state, especially for art, in Quebec.- Biography :...
and Alfred Pellan
Alfred Pellan
For the federal district in Laval, Quebec, see Alfred-Pellan Alfred Pellan, was an important figure in twentieth-century Quebec painting. He was born in Quebec City in 1906. From the age of fourteen until his graduation in 1926 he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts de Québec...
at their heads. After Borduas' election as president of the group in 1948, Pellan withdrew his group from the society, upon which Borduas resigned. Lyman, seeing that the CAS could no longer effectively fulfill its purpose, made a motion to dissolve the body. This was accepted at a meeting on November 18, 1948.
Later Years (1948-1967)
Lyman continued to paint figures in the years following the dissolution of the CAS, but the avant garde had shifted to the AutomatismLes Automatistes
Les Automatistes were a group of Québécois artistic dissidents from Montreal, Quebec. The movement was founded in the early 1940s by painter Paul-Émile Borduas. "Les Automatistes" were so called because they were influenced by Surrealism and its theory of automatism...
of Borduas and pure abstraction. In 1949 he accepted a professorship at McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, becoming the director of the fine arts department in 1952.
Work
Fauvism
Fauvism is the style of les Fauves , a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism...
painters, were the primary influence upon Lyman's work. His paintings were the first in this style to be exhibited in Canada, and his exhibit openings were met with derision in the popular press. In the 1920s, however, Lyman's work was more readily accepted. This was partly because of greater public exposure to modern art from Europe, and partly because of a change in Lyman's painting style.
Woman With a White Collar particularly shows Fauvist
Fauvism
Fauvism is the style of les Fauves , a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism...
influence in the handling of the facial planes and the somewhat arbitrary use of color, and has been compared to similar portraits by Matisse. By the time it was painted Lyman had developed a personal style that was "wonderfully calm, classical", as evident in the relatively muted colors and smooth paint-handling.
Selected list of works
- Profile of Corinne, 1913. Maurice Corbeil, Montreal.
- Reading, 1925. Anatoly Ciakca, Vancouver.
- Woman With a White Collar, 1936. National Gallery of CanadaNational Gallery of CanadaThe National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.The Gallery is now housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill. The acclaimed structure was...
, Ottawa. The woman depicted is Mrs. Leonard Marsh.