James Wilson Morrice

James Wilson Morrice (August 10, 1865 Montreal – January 23, 1924 Tunis) was a significant Canadian landscape painter. He studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, France, where he lived for most of his career.

Biography

Morrice was the son of a wealthy merchant, and studied law in Toronto from 1882 to 1889. In 1890 he left to study painting in England. The next year he arrived in Paris, where he studied at the Academie Julian from 1892-7. At Julians he befriended Charles Conder and Maurice Prendergast, and also met Robert Henri.

Morrice continued to live in Paris until the First World War, although he spent most of his winters in Canada. He made many connections in the intellectual circles of Paris, while also remaining in touch with the Canadian art world: :* joined the Salon d'Automne, 1905:* joined the Canadian Art Club, 1907:* elected member of the Royal Canadian Academy, 1913During this period he was also regularly in contact with English expatriate intellectuals living in Paris, such as W. Somerset Maugham, Arnold Bennett, and Clive Bell. In the winter of 1911-12 he shared a studio with Matisse in Tangiers.

With the advent of WWI Morrice fled to Montreal, and then to Cuba. There he began to succumb to alcoholism. The output of his last period is uneven and infrequent. In the summer of 1922 he travelled to Algiers, where he painted with Albert Marquet. This would be the last time that he painted, as his health began to rapidly deteriorate.

Work

Morrice's paintings before the turn of the century are thinly painted and inspired by Whistler in sentiment and treatment of color. Before WWI he began to paint in a thicker style of winter canadian scenes influenced by the impressionists. Some of his works during his Caribbiean period are considered his best, and are painted in a loose style infuenced by Van Gogh.

* "Prow of a Gondola, Venice", 1897
* "Return from School", 1901
* "Quai des Grands-Augustins", 1903. The National Gallery of Canada
* "The Ferry, Quebec", 1906. NGC
* "Village Street, West Indies", 1919. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

External links

* [http://www.magma.ca/~ldorais/morricee.htm Web site by Morrice specialist Lucie Dorais]
* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7949 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]

References

* cite book
last = Reid
first = Dennis
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = A Concise History of Canadian Painting, Second Edition
publisher = Oxford University Press Canada
date = 1988
location = Don Mills
pages =
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0-19-540663-X