BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Marguerite Marie Frechette

April 1878 - 1964

B.C. Society of Fine Arts (Member 1922-1923)


Marguerite M. Frechette was born in Ottawa in 1878. She was living in Ottawa in 1920, but had moved to Vancouver by 1922 where she lived at 1050 Jervis Street and at 1600 Davie Street. She exhibited four paintings with the Royal Canadian Academy in 1906, 1920, and 1922. She also exhibited four paintings at the Art Association of Montreal in 1922.

An article dated June 23, 1911 in The Western Call, a Vancouver newspaper, provides the best biographical information on Frechette. She took early art training in Ottawa under Franklyn Brownell, then in Montreal under William Brymner. Several years experience in New York was followed by schooling in Paris, where she was elected to the Union Internationale des Beaux Arts et des Lettres. In Paris she studied under Lucien Simon, Rene Menard, and Madame Leforges, the "famous woman artist." Prior to 1911 some of her portrait paintings were hung "conspicuously" in the dining room of the Chateau Frontenac hotel, Quebec City.

She exhibited in the September 1922 Annual Exhibition of the B.C. Society of Fine Arts, held at the Vancouver School Board offices on Hamilton Street, and again in the May 1923 exhibition. She was listed as a member of the society for only two years. Painting titles indicate that she had traveled in Europe, including Belgium and Switzerland.

Frechette died in San Diego, California, in 1964.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1922 Sept. 16 - 23 BCSFA   14th Annual Exhibition Interior
The Old Fisherman
Bruges Market
Mrs. F.L. Shaw
Case of Miniatures on ivory, containing:
Portrait of the late W. Dean Howells
"The Gypsy"
"Joan"
"Margaret"
"Betty"
1923 May 12 - 19 BCSFA   15th Annual Exhibition Portrait Study in Greys

References

THE FINE ARTS IN VANCOUVER, 1886 - 1930 (refer to THOM69)

EARLY PAINTERS AND ENGRAVERS IN CANADA (refer to H70)
      Includes short reference to Frechette.

ROYAL CANADIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS - EXHIBITIONS & MEMBERS 1880 - 1979 (refer to RCA81)

MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS - SPRING EXHIBITIONS 1880 - 1970 (refer to MM88)
      4 paintings listed in 1 exhibition for Frechette.

BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF ARTISTS IN CANADA (refer to BIAC03)
      9 references cited for Frechette.

Clippings

"A Rising Canadian Artist"
      The Western Call newspaper, Vancouver, June 23 1911

"A large and ambitious canvas by Marguerite Frechette presenting a portrait of Mr. Bernard McEvoy is very disappointing when regarded in comparison with some of the very striking and beautiful work that this artist has shown at previous exhibitions. The tone is unpleasing and the work is hurried and, while it is an unmistakable likeness, there is a mechanical feeling about it that one can not associate with the sitter."
      From "B.C. Fine Arts Society Exhibition (First Notice)"
      Vancouver Province, May 15 1923

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