Dates

• Existence: 27 June 1885 - 1969

Biography

Arthur Lismer was born June 27 1885 in Sheffield, one of six children. His father was a draper’s buyer and the family were active in the Unitarian Upper Chapel, with the children regularly attending Sunday school.

At age 12 Lismer was awarded a scholarship to the Sheffield School of Art. As part of this, he was apprenticed to photo-engraver Willis Eadon for 7 years between 1898 and 1905 and attended the School’s evening art classes, like most of his peers. In 1904, Lismer also worked as a black-and-white artist for a local paper The Sheffield Daily Independent, sketching various scenes of local events in Sheffield, such as courtroom scenes, festivals and football matches.

After completing his apprenticeship, Lismer went to Antwerp for the next year and a half to attend the Academie Royal des beaux-arts, having been invited to stay with a friend, a teacher at the Berlitz language school.

Lismer returned to Sheffield and opened his own photo-engraving business in Haymarket Chambers in 1908, in the same building as his former employer Eadon. However, Lismer struggled to attract regular customers and this likely influenced his decision to emigrate to Canada in January 1911.

Upon arrival in Canada, Lismer took a job with Grip Engraving Company. Several years earlier, Lismer’s school friend William Smithson Broadhead had emigrated to Canada and worked for the same company.

During his time in Canada, Lismer produced sketches for Godfrey Isaac Howard Lloyd’s publication on the small-scale industries of Sheffield titled The Cutlery Trades: An Historical in the Economics of Small-scale Production (London: Longmans, Green and Co.,1913).

He became a member of the Group of Seven in the 1920s, whose work was intended to give Canada a distinctive national voice in painting, and became known for its depictions of the North American wilderness. In 1967, Lismer was made a Companion of the Order of Canada after a lifetime as a dedicated painter and visionary teacher. He died in 1969.

Found in 1 Collection or Record: