James Morrice

Background

Morrice was born in Montreal, the son of a wealthy merchant, and studied law in Toronto from 1882 to 1889.

Education

He studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, France, where he lived for most of his career. The next year he arrived in Paris, where he studied at the Académie Julian from 1892-1897.

Career

James Morrice Street in New Bordeaux, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Montreal is named in his memory. In 1890 he left to study painting in England. At Julians he befriended Charles Conder and Maurice Prendergast, and also met Robert Henri.

Morrice continued to live in Paris until the First World War, although he spent most of his winters in Canada.

He made many connections in the intellectual circles of Paris, while also remaining in touch with the Canadian art world: joined the Salon d"Automne, 1905 joined the Canadian Art Club, 1907 During this period he was also regularly in contact with English expatriate intellectuals living in Paris, such as West. Somerset Maugham, Arnold Bennett, and Clive Bell. In the winter of 1911-1912 he shared a studio with Matisse in Tangiers.

With the advent of World War I, Morrice fled to Montreal, and then to Cuba. There he began to succumb to alcoholism.

The output of his last period is uneven and infrequent.

In the summer of 1922 he travelled to Algiers, where he painted with Albert Marquet. This would be the last time that he painted, as his health began to rapidly deteriorate. He died, aged 58, in Tunis.

NGC NGC In 1958, works by Morrice along with those of Jacques de Tonnancour, Anne Kahane and Jack Nichols represented Canada at the Venice Biennale.

Reid, Dennis (1988). A Concise History of Canadian Painting, Second Edition. Don Mills: Oxford University Press Canada.

Achievements

• He was a pioneer of "pure" painting of Post Impressionism as opposed to the painting of local scenery. His most famous works - Prow of a Gondola (1897), Venice (1900), Return from School (1901) and others.
  
  James Morrice Street in New Bordeaux, Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Montreal is named in his memory. In 1958, works by Morrice along with those of Jacques de Tonnancour, Anne Kahane and Jack Nichols represented Canada at the Venice Biennale.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Morrice: A Gift to the Nation: The G. Blair Laing Collection

Membership

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts]

elected member of the Royal Canadian Academy, 1913.

Connections

Father:

David Morrice

Friend:

Sir William Van Horne

References

• James Wilson Morrice: Painter of Light and Shadow (Quest Biography)