BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Mrs. Alice Blair Pollard Thomas
(m. Adolphus Richard Thomas)

October 1 1857 - 1945

Vancouver Studio Club and School of Art
B.C. Society of Fine Arts (Charter Member)
B.C. Society of Fine Arts/B.C. Society of Artists: Exhibitor's Timeline

Mrs. Alice Blair Thomas was born in Collingwood, Ontario. She lived in Nebraska from 1893 to 1897. In 1904 she was living in Toronto. She exhibited her artwork at the Montreal Museum in their Spring Exhibition in 1903. She exhibited her artwork with the Royal Canadian Academy in 1901, 1904, and 1916. She also lived in California prior to moving to Vancouver.

She and her husband moved to Vancouver, and she began to exhibit her artwork starting at least as early as 1909 with the B.C. Society of Fine Arts' debut First Annual Exhibition at the Dominion Hall in Vancouver. Later that year she exhibited in the November exhibition of the Society, and also showed eight more paintings in the Exhibition of Pictures held by the Vancouver Studio Club and School of Art.

Examples of her work were exhibited in retrospective sections of the B.C. Society of Fine Arts exhibitions in 1950 and 1960.

She died in Los Angeles, California in 1945, according to an online web site.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1909 April 20 - 28 BCSFA   First Annual Exhibition Crimson Glow
The Norway Pine
Silver Birches
In the Cascade Mountains
Old Tree
Evening Mists, Lake Agnes
A Cloudy Day
The Garden of Sleep
Springtime
1909 June 19 - July 17 Studio Club   Exhibition of Pictures A Winter Night
Homeward Bound
Mountain Stream, Port Mellon
Mount Stephen
Grazing
Early Spring
The White Cow
On the Hillside
1909 Oct. 27 - Nov. 6 Studio Club    Autumn Exhibition Silver Birches
The Old Cedar Tree
" ... and others ... "
1909 November BCSFA    Second Exhibition Mount Stephen
Harbour Scene
Solitude
Autumn, Silver Birches
Going to Rest
The Garden of Sleep
Old Houses, Manchester, England
1932 May - July VAG   All Canadian Exhibition Copper Birches
1950 April 25 - May 14 BCSA   40th Annual Exhibition Fish Wives

References

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

EARLY PAINTERS AND ENGRAVERS IN CANADA (refer to H70)

AN EXHIBITION OF OUR COLLECTION OF EARLY WESTERN CANADIAN WATERCOLORS (refer to UL78)

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

ARTISTS IN CANADA 1982 - UNION LIST OF ARTISTS' FILES (refer to AIC82)

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

MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS - SPRING EXHIBITIONS 1880 - 1970 (refer to MM88)

BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF ARTISTS IN CANADA (refer to BIAC03)
      7 references cited for Thomas, including Harper, MM, and RCA listed above.

https://www.askart.com/artist/Alice_Blair_Thomas/6633/Alice_Blair_Thomas.aspx

https://www.langmann.com/paintings/vancouver-harbour-1904-by-alice-blair-thomas

Clippings

"The outcome of various meetings since last May was a united one held last week, when the following list of members of the new undertaking passed muster and various other inaugural business was done. It is intended to limit the membership of the B.C. Society of Fine Arts - that is the appellation chosen - to 36 members. The names are ... Mrs. Blair-Thomas, ... "
      From "Society of Fine Arts"
      Victoria Times, November 20 1908

"Alice Blair Thomas has some local pictures full of force and feeling. "Straight to Nature" is the motto of this staunch impressionist."
      From "Vancouver Studio Club Spring Exhibition"
      B.C. Saturday Sunset, July 3 1909

"There is little need to dwell upon the work of Alice Blair Thomas, "Silver Birches," "The Old Cedar Tree" and others are well up to her standard."
      From "The Studio Club Autumn Exhibition" by Felix Penne
      B.C. Saturday Sunset, October 30 1909

"Alice Blair Thomas is well-represented in Nos. 33 and 34; her work is too well-known to need eulogium."
      From "Vancouver Studio Club" by Felix Penne
      B.C. Saturday Sunset, November 6 1909

"Mrs. Alice Blair Thomas, B.C.S.F.A., is another broad worker in oil, whose frequently large canvases convey a poetic rendering of mountain scenery. She is equally successful in pastoral effects, while her work in water color has found many purchasers in Vancouver."
      From "Art in British Columbia" by Bernard McEvoy
      Opportunities Magazine, 1910


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