Florence Helena McGillivray

Florence Helena McGillivray
Florence H. McGillivray, 1937
Born	March 1, 1864 Whitby, Ontario
Died	May 7, 1938 Toronto, Ontario
Nationality	Canadian

Florence Helena McGillivray (1864–1938), Florence Helena McGillivray was a landscape painter from Ontario, Canada. Though McGillivray’s main talent was landscape painting, she also practiced sketching during her career. Her paintings depicted many locations on the Gatineau River, the Val-des-Bois, the Ottawa River at Fort Coulonge and many more environmental scenes.

Known for her impressionistic style, McGillivray studied in Paris in 1913, and later became a teacher and critic. McGillivray’s contemporary art included textured, painterly brushstrokes and compelling colour choices. Florence was a contemporary of the Group of Seven. She was one a mentor for the influential Canadian painter Tom Thomson.

In the 1920s, McGillivrays career exploded. Her art mainly was influenced by the post-impressionism and Fauvist movements. McGillivray lived in Toronto and Ottawa but travelled often to pursue transforming the reality of nature into her work. She visited Europe, where she discovered art nouveau, Alaska, Jamaica and Trinidad. Exhibition locations include Toronto Malloney’s, Continental Galleries, Montreal, and her own studio in her hometown.

The National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre and galleries in Kitchener, London, and Windsor all hold her work in their collections. McGillivray was a member of many associations like the Ontario Society of Artists, the Society of Women Painters and Sculptors, The Royal Canadian Academy, and the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour. Florence Helena McGillivray died in Toronto on May 7, 1938, and is buried at Union Cemetery, Oshawa.

Florence Helena McGillivray was born in the small farm town of Whitby, Ontario on March 1, 1864. She is the second youngest child of Scottish immigrant farmer, George McGillivray (1813-1894) and his wife, Caroline Amelia Fothergill McGillivray (1828-1909). McGillivray had three siblings; Elizabeth Fothergill McGillivray Hillary (1847-1877), Mary Eliza McGillivray (1849-1911) and William McGillivray (1865-1904).

In 1870, the family moved to Inverlynn house located at 1300 Gifford Street in Whitby, Ontario. To this day, the property has remained in the possession of George McGillivrays descendants. The children attended a grammar school in Whitby, and she had shown artistic talent in her early childhood years so she pursued her art by attending The Central Ontario School of Art, where she studied under Professor William Cruikshank. Florence then began taking one-on-one lessons from renowned Canadian artists such as Farquhar Knowles and Lucius O’Brien to name only a few. Florence was greatly influenced by Modernists painters which continued through her career.