I began this journey, writing about Phillips Square, because the Art Association of Montreal was located on the north-east corner of the Square; I always thought that members of the Beaver Hall group of artists could easily have walked up Beaver Hall Hill to the AAA where some of them attended art classes or looked at art. The Beaver Hall group of artists are considered to be the Montreal-based equivalent of the Group of Seven artists; in fact, A.Y. Jackson was a member of both groups. That is why I began collecting photographs of Phillips Square and the original building that housed the AAM, and I began looking for historical photographs of the Beaver Hall artists' studio on Beaver Hall Hill. I was curious about the Beaver Hall artists and how they are an important part of the history of Montreal; perhaps more importantly, I like their art very much.
Someone I wrote about, Darrell Morrisey (no relation), has a kind of curious importance; Darrell is one of several Beaver Hall artists who have been forgotten by history. In Darrell's case, we really don't know what happened to her art, whether she gave up being an artist, or someone discarded her paintings after her early death in 1930, or whether she was not prolific and her remaining paintings have disappeared over time. In 2012 I wrote an essay about Darrell Morrisey and since then she was included in the Beaver Hall artist exhibition held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2015, she was included in their exhibition catalogue, and two of her paintings (on two sides of the same panel) and several drawings were discovered after I published my essay. She is not among the best of the Beaver Hall artists but she is an interesting story of endurance, family history, and one woman's effort to be independent.
 |
| This old map of Montreal shows Beaver Hall Hill, St. Patrick`s Church on an adjacent street to Beaver Hall Hill, and other locations |
 |
| The arrow indicates the Beaver Hall artists`studio |
 |
| The arrow indicates a building where the Beaver Hall artists' studio was located |
 |
| This is a Google Street View of the previous image, as of October 2021, the relentless construction of condos and office buildings has destroyed whatever was left of the original Beaver Hall Hill; the Beaver Hall artists' studios were in a building to the right of the remaining building above |
 |
From Lowell's Montreal City Directory, the address of the Beaver Hall Group of Artists, 305 Beaver Hall Hill |
 |
| Looking south on Beaver Hall Hill towards Victoria Square, 1950s |
