Remembering Darrell Morrisey

Darrell Morrisey, early 1920s

Here is a link to my essay, "Remembering Darrell Morrisey"; it's the latest information on Montreal-born artist Darrell Morrisey. Darrell was a member of the Beaver Hall Group of artists but died when she was only thirty-three years old and was then forgotten. This essay includes the five paintings by Darrell that have been discovered since 2012, that's five more than we had before that date. Darrell Morrisey is forgotten no longer.

Go to: https://archive.org/details/remembering-darrell-morrisey-morrissey-06-february-2025

An Introduction to the art of Darrell Morrisey

 

Darrell Morrisey

I wrote an essay on the paintings of Darrell Morrisey and then requested that ChatGPT edit what I had written, for concision, and this is what it produced. I made the same request of MetaAI (owned by Facebook) and got nothing, they had never heard of Darrell (couldn't they have at least done a search on her?), MetaAI was actually insulting and Deep Seek was totally useless; here is what ChatGPT wrote:

Darrell Morrisey (1897–1930) was a Canadian artist whose contributions to early 20th-century art, particularly within Montreal's Beaver Hall Group, have only recently received scholarly attention. Darrell Morrisey was a member of Montreal's Beaver Hall Group, a collective of Canadian artists active in the early 20th century. The group is notable for its inclusion of both male and female artists and its embrace of modernist styles. Despite her premature death and the subsequent disappearance of her works, Morrisey's paintings and her biography offer an interesting addition to the history of the Beaver Hall artists. 

Morrisey received her artistic education at the Art Association of Montreal (AAM) between 1917 and 1920, studying under prominent artists such as Maurice Cullen and William Brymner. Her participation in the AAM's Spring Exhibitions and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts' annual exhibitions during the 1920s reflects her active engagement with the Canadian art scene. In 1921, she exhibited a portrait at the inaugural exhibition of the Beaver Hall Group, a collective of artists dedicated to exploring modernist themes and techniques. She studied at the Art Association of Montreal (AAM) from 1917 to 1920, participating in several of its Spring Exhibitions during that period and later years. In June 1917, she took open-air drawing classes from Maurice Cullen in Phillipsburg, Quebec, and the following year from William Brymner in Calumet (now Pointe-Calumet), Quebec.

The Beaver Hall Group, established in 1920, was instrumental in advancing modern art in Canada. Unlike the contemporaneous Group of Seven, which focused predominantly on landscapes, the Beaver Hall artists embraced a diverse range of subjects, including portraiture and urban scenes, and were notable for their inclusion of women artists. Morrisey's involvement with this group positioned her among peers who were at the forefront of artistic innovation in Montreal.

Morrisey's limited body of work is characterized by a focus on rural landscapes and one portrait. Her travels to Europe between 1921 and 1922, including visits to the United Kingdom, Italy, and France, likely enriched her artistic perspective, as suggested by the European themes present in some of her later works.

The discovery of Morrisey's paintings has been a gradual process. In May 2024, a painting titled "Sunset Landscape," dated 1917, was identified in the United Kingdom and subsequently returned to Canada. This work, along with others that have surfaced, such as a depiction of L'église Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in Montreal, underscores her artistic range and the geographical breadth of her subjects.

Despite these discoveries, much of Morrisey's life and work remains shrouded in mystery. Her early death at the age of 33 and the subsequent disappearance of many of her paintings have contributed to her status as a "forgotten" artist within the Beaver Hall Group. Recent scholarly efforts, including essays and exhibitions, have begun to shed light on her contributions, emphasizing the need for further research to fully appreciate her role in Canadian art history.

In examining Darrell Morrisey's paintings, one not only gains insight into her personal artistic journey but also into the broader narrative of Canadian modernism. Her work reflects the dynamic interplay between tradition and innovation that defined the art scene in early 20th-century Montreal. As more of her paintings come to light, there is an opportunity to reassess her impact and ensure that her legacy is appropriately recognized within the canon of Canadian art.

Morrisey's artistic contributions are less documented compared to some of her contemporaries. However, a recently discovered painting titled "Sunset Landscape" (1917) showcases her talent and provides insight into her style.

While specific comparisons between Morrisey's work and that of other Beaver Hall artists are limited due to the scarcity of her known pieces, her association with the group suggests she shared their modernist approach and thematic interests.

For a more comprehensive understanding of Morrisey's art in relation to her peers, further research and discovery of her works would be necessary.

Morrisey's artistic focus included portraits and rural landscapes, with her later works reflecting her travels in Europe. She exhibited at the first annual exhibition of the Beaver Hall Group in January 1921, presenting a portrait. Throughout the 1920s, her work was admired by critics in Montreal. She traveled to Europe from August 1921 to July 1922, visiting the United Kingdom, Italy, and France, and occasionally visited the United States.

Due to her early death and the subsequent disappearance of many of her paintings, Morrisey became one of the "forgotten" members of the Beaver Hall Group. However, recent discoveries have brought some of her works back into the public eye. In May 2014 the first of her paintings was discovered in her hometown, Westmount, Quebec, entitled "Landscape (possibly Pointe Calumet, Quebec". Ten years later, in May 2024, a painting titled "Sunset Landscape" was discovered in the United Kingdom.  Additionally, in September 2024, two more paintings were found, including one depicting L'église Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in Montreal (located on the corner of Decarie and Avenue Notre-Dame-de-Grâce), believed to have been painted between 1927 and 1930.

These recent discoveries have renewed interest in Morrisey's contributions to Canadian art, shedding light on her role within the Beaver Hall Group and the broader art community of her time.

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“Unison” by F.R. Scott

 

Signature by F.R. Scott, Klanak Press, Vancouver, 1964

What is it makes a church so like a poem?

The inner silence -- space between words?

The ancient pews set out in rhyming rows

Where old men sit and lovers are so still?

Or something just beyond that can't be seen,

Yet seems to move if we should look away?

It is not in the choir and the priest.

It is the empty church has most to say.

It cannot be the structure of the stone.

Sometimes mute buildings rise above a church.

Nor is it just the reason it was built.

Often it does not not speak at all.

Men have done murders here as in a street,

And blinded men have smashed a holy place.

Men will walk by a church and never know

What lies within, as men will scorn a book.

Then surely it is not the church itself

That makes a church so very like a poem,

But only that unfolding of the heart

That lifts us upward in a blaze of light

And turns a nave of stone or page of words

To Holy, Holy, Holy without end.

Books on the Beaver Hall Artists

Back to the Beaver Hall artists. I highly recommend a film, available on YouTube, "By Woman's Hand"; made by the National Film Board of Canada in 1994; the film gives some of the history of Prudence Heward and two other members of the Beaver Hall group who were also Heward's friends, Anne Savage and Sarah Robertson. At 13:51 there is a photograph of William Brymner and a class of art students, some of them are future prominent members of the Beaver Hall group; included in the photograph is Darrell Morrisey, an artist I have researched since 2010.

Books that might interest you.

 

Catalogue for the 1920s Modernism in Montreal exhibit,
published by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2016

The Women of Beaver Hall, Canadian Modernist Painters by Evelyn Walters,
Dundern Press, 2005

The Beaver Hall Group and its Legacy by Evelyn Walters,
Dundurn Press, 2017

Painting Friends, The Beaver Hall Women Painters
by Barbara Meadowcroft, Vehicule Press, 1999

Periodical from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, issue 15, 2016

The Beaver Hall Artists

More photographs taken at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts' 1920s Modernism in Montreal exhibition, 2015.

1920s Modernism in Montreal exhibit, MMFA

I'll go back and identify the artists of these paintings, all were exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts' 1920s Modernism in Montreal exhibit in 2015. For instance, the first painting below is of St. Patrick's Church from the rear of the studio of the Beaver Hall artists.

This is St. James Cathedral, renamed Marie, Reine de la Monde around 1950
which was the year of Mary; it's just a few blocks west of Beaver Hall Hill

St. James Cathedral, Marie, Reine de la Monde

This Seventh Day Adventist Church is located in Upper Westmount

One of the two towers at the College de Montreal;
on the north side of  Sherbrooke Street West across from Fort Avenue 

Of course, this is where we began, looking down on the entrance
of Morgan's Department Store on the corner of Union and Ste. Catherine Street West

More on Darrell Morrisey

It isn't much but at least Darrell Morrisey (one of the "forgotten" Beaver Hall artists) now has some recognition; people know that she existed and that she was an artist. To this end, I wrote an essay on her and she was included in the Museum's 1920s Modernism in Montreal exhibit--in fact, this was a major exhibition at the Museum--and she was included in the catalogue published for the exhibition. Not much, but better than nothing. . .

From the MMFA's 2015 exhibition of the Beaver Hall artists

Bottom left, one of two extant paintings by Darrell Morrisey

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Here we are in October 2015 at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts on Sherbrooke Street West in Montreal, we're visiting an exhibition of the Beaver Hall artists; this building is where the Art Association of Montreal relocated in 1913. Banners for the 1920s Modernism in Montreal exhibit hang on the outside of the original building on the north side of the street; a newer building (the Jean-Paul Desmarais Pavilion, that opened in 1991) is located directly across the street; next door to the original museum building is the Marc Bougie Pavilion, that opened in 2010; the Marc Bougie Pavilion used to be the Erskine and American (Presbyterian) United Church until it was repurposed as an exhibition space for Canadian Art and a concert hall. 

For many years I have felt that the Museum is one of the great attractions to visiting Montreal and to enjoying living here. 

Opened in December 1913, this building replaced the AAA's Phillips Square location;
it is now one of several pavilions that comprise the MMFA; the original 1913 building is now the 
Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion for Peace

  

The Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion for Peace

The Marc Bougie Pavilion, note the addition of exhibition space at the rear of the building;
this was originally the Erskine and American (Presbyterian) United Church

Interior of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion for Peace

Interior of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion for Peace