BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Gertrude Isabel Lawson

June 19 1892 - January 22 1989

West Vancouver Sketch Club
Vancouver Sketch Club
Canadian Girls in Training (Member 1927)



Courtesy West Vancouver Archives

Gertrude Lawson was born in 1892 in Donald, B.C., 28 kilometres west of Golden, once a divisional point on the Canadian Pacific Railway. Her father John Lawson was a Conductor for the CPR. The family moved to West Vancouver in 1907, becoming one of its pioneer families. She was a painter in oil and watercolour.

Lawson exhibited artwork with the West Vancouver Sketch Club at the Legion Hall in West Vancouver on February 27, 1932.

She took training from Bessie Adelaide Fry and from W. Fee. She was listed as a member of the West Vancouver Sketch Club in Who's Who in Northwest Art, 1941, which predates the creation of the current West Vancouver Sketch Club in 1947. She is not listed as a member of the West Vancouver Sketch Club from 1947 on.


1912 City Directory advertisement


1927 family listing

Lawson exhibited in the West Vancouver Artists' Exhibition in April 1939, and had a duo show with Bessie Adelaide Fry at the Jasper Park Lodge in Summer, 1932.


Courtesy West Vancouver Archives


Courtesy West Vancouver Archives


Morning on Mt. Edith Cavell
Courtesy West Vancouver Archives

  
1932 and 1936 framing labels for Morning on Mt. Edith Cavell
Courtesy West Vancouver Archives

She exhibited work in the B.C. Artists exhibitions from 1932 to 1938, held at the Vancouver Art Gallery. She was living in West Vancouver at the time, and was listed as a school teacher.

Entry in Who's Who in Northwest Art (1941):

LAWSON, Gertrude, 2227 Bellevue Ave., West Vancouver, B.C.; Hollyburn, B.C. Painter (oil, water-color) - Born Donald, B.C., June 19 1892. Pupil of Bessie Adelaide Fry; W. Fee. Member: West Vancouver Sketch Club. Exhibitor at Vancouver Art Gallery, 1932-1938 (B.C. Artists' Exh.); West Vancvouver Artists' Exh., April 1939; Jasper Park Lodge (with B.A. Fry), Summer, 1932. Art appreciation lecturer, West Vancouver elementary and high schools.


Photo Gary Sim


SOLO EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION LOCATION
1932 Summer Duo exhibition with B.A. Fry Jasper Park Lodge AB

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1930 Aug. 6 - 16 VanExh   Oil Paintings & Water-colours 8th Fairway, Harrison Golf Links
The Lions
1932 Feb. 27 WVSC   Exhibition by members The Lions
(Landscape near Jasper)
(lino block print or prints)
1932 Aug. 29 - Sept. 5 VanExh   Vancouver Sketch Club Exhibit Morning, Mt. Edith Cavell
Arbutus, Whytecliffe Park
1932 Oct. 5 - 30 VAG   B.C. Artists 1st Annual Arbutus, Whytecliffe Park
Morning on Mt. Edith Cavell
1933 Feb. 13 - 18 Sylvia Court    West End Artists Exhibition (titles not known)
1933 Sept. 22 - Oct. 15 VAG   B.C. Artists 2nd Annual Lagoon and Hillside
1933 Dec. 1 - 17 VAG   B.C. Artists Christmas Exhibition Morning on Mt. Edith Cavell
1935 Sept. 20 - Oct. 15 VAG   B.C. Artists 4th Annual Under the Bridge
1936 Aug. 18 - 28 David Spencer   B.C. Artists' Golden Jubilee Morning on Mt. Edith Cavell
1936 Sept. 18 - Oct. 11 VAG   B.C. Artists 5th Annual Vancouver Harbour from West Vancouver
1937 Sept. 17 - Oct. 10 VAG   B.C. Artists 6th Annual August on the Fairway
1938 Sept. 16 - Oct. 9 VAG   B.C. Artists 7th Annual Water Wheels
1939 April WVSC   Exhibition by members (titles not known)
1947 April 12 - 13 WVCAC   Exhibition of Fine Arts The Water Wheels

References

Greater Vancouver Social and Club Register (1927)

WHO'S WHO IN NORTHWEST ART (refer to WWNA41)

BRITISH COLUMBIA WOMEN ARTISTS 1885-1985 (refer to AGGV85)

GENERATIONS - FIVE DECADES OF ART IN WEST VANCOUVER 1912 - 1962 (refer to WVMA99)

BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF ARTISTS IN CANADA (refer to BIAC03)
      1 reference cited for Lawson: WWNA above.

B.C. VITAL STATISTICS ON-LINE birth, death (refer to BCVS)

Gertrude Lawson Fond, West Vancouver Archives, W Vancouver

Clippings

" ... Miss Gertrude Lawson showed two paintings that were particularly noticed, "The Lions" and a landscape sketched near Jasper. ... Lino-block prints, executed by Miss(es) ... Lawson ... were also on view."
      From "Sketch Club Holds Exhibition of Work at West Vancouver"
      (unknown newspaper), February 29 1932

" ... and Gertrude Lawson have excellent examples of their work on view."
      From "'West End' Show Of Art Works" by D.S.M.
      Vancouver Sun, February 15 1933

" ... Gertrude Lawson, ... and others are exhibiting in the various classes."
      From "Bargains in Art" by D.S.M.
      Vancouver Sun, December 1 1933


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