BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Lily Alice Lefevre (nee Cook(e))
(m Dr. John Lefevre)

c1858 - October 17 1938

Vancouver Art Association (Founding Member 1889)
Vancouver Studio Club and School of Art (Vice-President)
Vancouver Pioneer
Canadian Authors' Association, Vancouver Branch (Member, President)
Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (founding member, Coronation Chapter 1902)
Third Order of St. Francis (Member)


Mrs. Lefevre was one of the earliest artists to exhibit in Vancouver, and in 1889 was a founding member of the first important art organization in Vancouver, the Vancouver Art Association.

She was born in Brockville ON, educated in Montreal, and married Dr. Lefevre in 1883. The couple arrived in Vancouver in 1886.

Dr. John Matthew Lefevre (1853 - 1906) was the C.P.R. doctor and first physician in the Vancouver City Hospital. He built the Lefevre Building at 601 West Hastings Street, where early art exhibitions were held, beginning in 1890. After his death the building was renamed the Empire Building, and has since been demolished.

Mrs. Lefevre exhibited a number of paintings in the First Annual Exhibition of the Vancouver Art Association in 1890, winning a gold medal for figure painting.

Mrs. Lefevre also helped to organize early exhibitions of the Vancouver Studio Club.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1890 October 6 - 11 VAA   1st Annual Exhibition The Columbia, Near Donald
Sunset at Kamloops
North Bend
After the Storm
Landscape
A Village Maiden

References

Clippings

"A gold medal for figure painting, presented by Mr. A.G. Ferguson, was awarded to Mrs. Lefevre ... "
      From "Our British Columbia Letter"
      The Dominion Illustrated, December 20 1890

"The Studio Club, a new organization to Vancouver, will commence its active existence in premises situated over Trorey's store tomorrow afternoon. ... The club starts with a membership of thirty, of whom nineteen are working, and eleven honorary members. The officers are as follows: ... vice president, Mrs. Lefevre ... "
      "Studio Club Formed"
      Vancouver Province, March 10 1904

"Honor to Mr. H. Abbott, Mrs. A. Lothian Russell, Mrs. LeFevre, Mr. Mackintosh Gow and others who are responsible for this interesting little exhibition. May their ambitions be realized, may a permanent art gallery be a welcome addition to Vancouver's public institutions, may art scholarships and art lectures in the near future be the outcome of the earnest efforts of the little "bunch" of art workers and art lovers who are unobtrusiveley doing such welcome service for the community today."
      "Vancouver Studio Club Spring Exhibition"
      B.C. Saturday Sunset, July 3 1909

"Mrs. Lily Alice Lefevre, Famed Vancouver Pioneer, Passes Away"
      Vancouver Province, October 18 1938

"Mrs. Lefevre , Pioneer, Poetess, Dead at 84"
      Vancouver Sun, October 18 1938

"Many Mourn At Rites for Mrs. Lefevre"
      Vancouver Sun, October 19 1938


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