An exploration into Montreal’s Beaver Hall Group and its legacy of women painters who now rank among Canada’s most outstanding artists.

Today it is difficult to imagine that the art of Montreal’s Beaver Hall Group was once shocking. As these Modernists struggled against academic art, critics such as Samuel Morgan-Powell ranted — “rough,” “meaningless” “blatant plastering and massing of unpleasant colours in weird landscapes” — and likened their paintings to the “cacophonous riot of metallic yowlings” of jazz that was invading the city.

Moreover, unlike their contemporaries, the Group of Seven, the Beaver Hall Group dared to break with tradition and accept women members. The result was a legacy of some of the finest women painters Canada has so far produced. In 2005, Evelyn Walters gave them deserved attention in her acclaimed book, The Women of Beaver Hall: Canadian Modernist Painters.

Now, a follow-up, The Beaver Hall Group and Its Legacy delves into the engrossing life stories of the twenty-five artists who belonged to the Beaver Hall Group and the Women of Beaver Hall. Over seventy-five images gleaned from museums and private collections highlight the work of these pioneering artists who changed the course of Canadian art. Written for student and scholar alike, The Beaver Hall Group and Its Legacy is a must for every art lover’s library.

Evelyn Walters’s expertise on the Beaver Hall Group is as an outgrowth of her doctoral thesis and from research for a personal art collection. She is the author of The Women of Beaver Hall, one of the first books to be written on the Beaver Hall Group. A former Montrealer, she now lives in Toronto.

Evelyn Walters' profile page

A thing of beauty.

The Dorchester Review

Thoughtfully organized and beautifully written.

Canada's History

For art lovers, history buffs, and anyone with an interest in Montreal during its 20th-century heyday as the country’s commercial hub, this book will probably have you scanning the signatures of family portraits, streetscapes, and landscapes your parents and grandparents handed down.

Winnipeg Free Press

Reminds us — again — that other people were making art in Canada as Modernism, a European notion, began to arrive on our shores.

Toronto Star

An accessible and very readable text, presenting a good introduction to the Beaver Hall Group for art lovers or those interested in learning more about modern art during this period of incredible artistic growth in Canada.

Literary Review of Canada