BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Those Darn Marriages


Researching a historical project like this is a difficult task. Unlike fiction writing, no statement can really be put into a non-fiction work unless it is known to be a fact. A fact can be a very elusive thing. An absolute fact is a joy to behold, and a new fact especially so, particularly if it has been an elusive fact. Art and Artists in Exhibition is a series of digital documents composed almost entirely of thousands of facts, strung together with navigational aids, and some blather like this here and there. A number of categories of facts are compiled here: artists' names, their birth and death dates, biographical facts, artistic training, names of their paintings and the exhibitions they were in, and so on.

Not all facts are known about all categories, all artists, all artworks, and vast amounts of information lurk uncompiled in old exhibition catalogues and society records and archives. But perhaps the most difficult bits of information to find out are the "vital statistics" of an artist. When and where were they born, when and where did they die (or perhaps not), did they marry and have children? These can be tough questions to answer, and one of the purposes of this compilation of facts is to provide a framework for filling in such information as it is discovered.

The full name of an artist can be almost impossible to find, and their name can be spelled both correctly and incorrectly in a number of ways, in exhibition catalogues, newspaper reviews of exhibitions, and even in scholarly works taking information directly from incorrect earlier information. People can also officially change their names partially, by dropping letters (Bloomfield becomes Blomfield, Shearman becomes Sherman) or by adding new letters such as von. They can change their names completely, for reasons both personal and political (Schellenberger becomes Rand at the start of World War II). No category of artist changes their name more frequently and completely than women who marry.

Sometimes the artist retains her name and continues signing her work that way, sometimes she changes to her husband's name, sometimes both names are added together. The combinations of her Christian names and her husband's Christian names can be confusing sometimes as well. For example, Kate Smith, Kate Smith Hoole, Mrs. Kate Hoole, and Mrs. Frank Hoole are the same woman.

A list of female artists' names before and after marriage (from this database) includes the following two lists. The first list is alphabetical by maiden surnames, for those artists whose maiden and married names are known. The second list is alphabetical by married surnames, for those artists whose maiden name is currently unknown to the author (apologies as necessary, information welcome). Names of single female artists (Miss) are not given unless they are known to have married.

One of the problems made apparent during the writing of this page was the difficulty of ensuring that information is correctly attributed. The links to the biographies of the artists listed below vary from maiden to married name. There is no particular convention to this, other than the Editor having become accustomed to reading about these artists in one name or the other, due to common usage in the publications reviewed from the time that the artist "flourished". I have tried to remember to list both maiden and married names in the Artists Index, linked to just one biography, but so far I fear I have not done that consistently.



Alphabetical by Maiden Surname

Single Married
Miss Sybil Andrews Mrs. Walter Morgan, Mrs. S. Morgan
Miss Unity Bainbridge Mrs. Leslie William Brewster (currently Bainbridge)
Miss Jane Billaux Mrs. Hugh Clifford
Miss Alyce Brosseau Mrs. C.K. Passmore
Miss V.M Brown Mrs. V. Brown-Webster
Miss Dorothy Chapman Mrs. C.H. Gibbs
Miss Ernva Willard Code Mrs. F. Leslie
Miss Evelyn Cools Mrs. Evelyn Cools Middleton
Miss Janet Eaves Mrs. Aubrey G. Goodall
Miss Kathleen England Mrs. Hugh Playfair
Miss Marion Erb Mrs. Marion Erb Travers
Miss Bessie Fry Mrs. Fry Symons
Miss V.O. deBlois Green Mrs. Davies
Miss Irene Harris Mrs. Irene Harris Grant
Miss Laurencia Herchmer Mrs. Hugh Ricard
Miss Irene Hoffar Mrs. Irene Hoffar Reid
Miss Beulah Jaenicke Mrs. Beulah Jaenicke Rosen
Miss Ruby Johnston Mrs. Desmond Howard
Miss Phyllis Kirkpatrick Mrs. Sutton
Miss Doris Le Cocq Mrs. Fred Tabuteau
Miss Margaret Lougheed Mrs. D.F. Kidd
Miss Irene Moody Mrs. Irene Moody Alderman
Miss Marion Aird Morham Mrs. A.S. Grigsby
Miss Dorothy Ruth Mouat Mrs. Peter Aspell
Miss Norma Park Mrs. Brandon
Miss Sophie Pemberton Mrs. Beanlands - Mrs. Deane-Drummond
Miss Phyllis N.H. Peters Mrs. Phyllis Peters Monk
Miss Kate Adeline Smith Mrs. Frank Hoole
Miss Dorothy Stevens Mrs. Dorothy Stevens Cope
Miss Vera Weatherbie Mrs. Vera Mortimer-Lamb
Miss Joan Wright Mrs. Bruce D. Boyd (Joan Wright Boyd)


Alphabetical by Married Surname

Single Married
Miss ? Mrs. J.W. Allen
Miss Betty Elliott Mrs. (Elizabeth) Frederick Amess
Miss Frances Currie Mrs. Frances Currie Ashby
Miss Anne Marie McCaig Mrs. E. (Nancy) Bakewell
Miss ? Mrs. Louise A. Loveland

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