Anne Savage (Anne Douglas Savage)

1896-1971

Born in Montreal, Quebec, she studied at the Montreal High School where she got her first art classes. Then from 1914 to 1918 she studied at the Art Association of Montreal under William Brymner and Maurice Cullen. There, in 1919, she was able to see Tom Thomson’s oil sketches, and soon came to identify herself strongly with the Group of Seven and their visions of the Canadian landscape. She then went on to work as a medical artist in Montreal and Toronto, and spent ten months at the Minneapolis School of Art studying design. In 1920, she was a founding member of Montreal’s Beaver Hall Group and met A.Y. Jackson, who opened the group’s first exhibition. Based on their mutual interest in landscape painting, Savage and A.Y. Jackson became lifelong friends and over the years, they shared critiques, encouragement and discussions on painting and Art in general.

Savage’s career as an art teacher began in 1922. She was first hired at Montreal’s Commercial and Technical High School, but within the year was transferred to the newly opened Baron Byng High School, on St. Urbain Street, were she taught until 1948. Her work there was highly regarded and came to the attention of Arthur Lismer, also a committed art educator. Her work was also well received abroad as she exhibited on many occasions in France, England and the United-States.

In 1927, Savage travelled with the sculptor Florence Wyle and ethnographer Marius Barbeau to the Skeena River district of British Columbia. The main goal was to record west coast native art for Marius Barbeau and the National Gallery of Canada. She painted many sketches from which she later did larger canvases. Many of those larger works are now in museum across Canada, and her sketchbook from that trip is held in the National Gallery of Canada.

In 1933, she was a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters. She would end-up being President of the Group in 1949 and 1960. In 1937, Savage began giving Saturday morning art classes for children at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. She was a pioneer in teaching children's art along progressive lines here in Canada, along with Fritz Brandtner and Arthur Lismer. From 1940 to 1960 she worked with community groups to convince parents and educators of the value of art in the personal and social development of the individual, and was a strong advocate for contemporary Canadian art.

In 1948, she was appointed Supervisor of Art for the Protestant School Board of Montreal. In 1953, she retired from full-time teaching but continued to give public lectures on art and art education. She also taught part-time in the School of Education at McGill University thereafter.

Throughout her life she participated actively in different areas of the art domain, setting-up associations, exhibiting and promoting Canadian art at home and abroad, even broadcasting a series of radio programs on the topic. In 1969 a retrospective show was held at the Concordia University Gallery. She died two years later in Montreal at the age of 74.

Collections:

- National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON)
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, QC)
- Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal (Montreal, QC)
- Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (Quebec, QC)
- Musée d’Art de Joliette (Joliette, QC)
- Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver, BC)
- Art Gallery of Hamilton (Hamilton, ON)
- McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Kleinburg, ON)
- Agnes Etherington Art Center (Kingston, ON)
- McCord Museum (Montreal. QC)
- Protestant School Board of Greather Montreal (Montreal, QC)
- Power Corporation of Canada (Montreal, QC)
- Firestone Art Collection (Ottawa, ON)

Affiliations:

-Canadian Group of Painters (1933)
- Beaver Hall Group (1920)