|
Edwin
Holgate was born in Allandale, Ontario. When he was
three years old, his family moved to Jamaica where his
father worked as an engineer. At the age of five,
Holgate returned to Toronto to live with relatives and
to begin his schooling. The Holgate family was re-united
four years later and settled in Montreal, where Holgate
began his art education at the Art Association of
Montreal studying under William Brymner who was also A.Y.
Jackson's teacher. In 1920, some of the Brymner
graduates found a large building on Beaver Hall Hill in
Montreal, a central location that could serve for a
number of studios. Over the years Holgate continued to
be involved with the Beaver Hall Hill group, as the
artists who stayed there have become known.
Holgate
continued his studies in Paris, returning to Canada at
the outbreak of World War I and enlisted in the army.
After the War, the artist returned to Paris with his new
bride and remained there until 1922 when they returned
to Montreal and became active in the city's cultural and
artistic life. Having studied figure painting in France,
Holgate began a series of nudes in northern landscapes.
In 1928 he began teaching wood engraving at the Ecole
des Beaux-Arts. Holgate was instrumental in the founding
of the Canadian Society of Graphic Artists in 1925, and
it was as a graphic artist that he first began to
attract wide attention. Asked to join the Group in 1930,
Holgate had by then established a reputation for his
figure paintings and West Coast and Laurentian
landscapes.
Although he did execute
landscape paintings, Holgate was better known for his
portraits. He also painted many murals, the best known
being his designs for the Totem Pole Room at Ottawa's
Chateau Laurier Hotel. After the Group of Seven years
Holgate took a teaching position at the Art Association
of Montreal. Among the talents he brought to this post,
were his skills as a book illustrator as well as a wood
engraver. His lifelong interest in graphics, drawing and
printmaking are evident in the strong lines and design
of his painting.
|
