BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Rose (Rosa) Harriet Macdonald Willis
(m. William Arthur Willis)

1866 - February 15 1960

Island Arts and Crafts Society
Victoria Sketch Club (Life Member)

Rose Macdonald Willis was born in Newport, Scotland, in 1866. She moved to Montreal in 1870, where she studied under William Raphael, later teaching painting for several years in Montreal. She arrived in B.C. in 1913, where she lived in Victoria, and studied under Thomas Fripp. She exhibited with the Island Arts and Crafts Society from 1913 to 1941. She was a painter in oil and watercolour.

She exhibited work at the Art Association of Montreal in 1909 and 1912.

She exhibited work at the Vancouver Exhibition in 1930.

In 1932 Willis was a signatory to an agreement to boycott the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa for their exhibition and purchase policies related to Canadian artists. She was noted as being a Victoria artist.

She had a solo exhibition in Victoria, November 1939.

She died in Victoria in 1960 at the age of 76.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1930 Aug. 6 - 16 VanExh   Oil Paintings & Water-colours Pheasant
1933 Mar. 3 - 15 VAG   IACS Vancouver Island Exhibition Goldstream
Beauty Spot
1939 Mar. 14 - 26 VAG   IACS Vancouver Island Exhibition A Flower Study
Moonlight on Shawnigan Lake

References

ISLAND ARTS & CRAFTS CLUB 5th ANNUAL EXHIBITION (refer to IACS14)

WHO'S WHO IN NORTHWEST ART (refer to WWNA41)
      Short entry for Willis.

EARLY PAINTERS AND ENGRAVERS IN CANADA (refer to H70)

ISLAND ARTS AND CRAFTS SOCIETY - List of Exhibitors

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)
      Two exhibitions listed with six paintings by Willis.

BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF ARTISTS IN CANADA (refer to BIAC03)
      4 references cited for Willis: including MM and WWNA above.

CITY & PROVINCIAL DIRECTORIES 1915/1922-23/1926 (refer to DIR)

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

Clippings

" ... the 118 artists who have signed the agreement to date ... include ... Rose M. Willis ... "
      From "Canadian Artists Unite to Boycott National Gallery" by The Canadian Press
      Montreal Gazette, December 8 1932

Obituary, Victoria Daily Colonist, June 2 1960


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