Stanley Morel Cosgrove

Stanley Cosgrove was a painter, draughtsman and muralist. Over a seventy-year career, he maintained a consistent artistic path, creating serene figurative representations that explored three principal subjects: forests, women and still lifes. In his paintings, he placed a strong emphasis on formal relationships through an economy of means, with simplified forms and a limited palette.

Cosgrove attended Montreal's École des Beaux-Arts from 1929 to 1935, studying under Henri Charpentier, Joseph Saint-Charles, and Charles Maillard. At the Art Association of Montreal, he took drawing classes from Edwin Holgate, who became a lifelong friend. After completing his studies, Cosgrove spent several months painting in the Gaspé, with the support of arts benefactor Huntley Drummond, and three summers in the Charlevoix, along with Jean Paul Lemieux, Jean Palardy and Jori Smith. In 1938, he assisted Holgate in painting a mural for the Canadian pavilion at the New York World's Fair.

The year 1939 proved to be pivotal for Cosgrove. He held his first solo show at the École des Beaux-Arts de Québec, and exhibited with the Contemporary Arts Society and at the Musée du Québec. Then, he was awarded a bursary to study in France. As war had broken out, however, he changed his focus to Mexico, having long taken an interest in that country's culture and art, particularly in the frescoes of José Clemente Orozco.

Cosgrove arrived in Mexico in early 1940 and remained there for four years. He studied under Manuel Rodriguez Lozano at the Academia de San Carlos, Mexico City, and spent eight intensely rewarding months apprenticing with Orozco. From him, Cosgrove learned the fresco techniques that would have an enduring effect on his work: the application of thin, dry layers of paint; the attention to form and composition; the subtle colours.

Cosgrove returned to Montreal at the end of 1943 to take up a part-time teaching position at the École des Beaux-Arts. Over the next decade, he was very productive, participating in numerous exhibitions and signing an exclusive contract with the Dominion Gallery. He joined the Canadian Group of Painters and was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy. In 1953, Cosgrove and his good friend Goodridge Roberts both found themselves painting in the south of France on government bursaries. In 1958, he left his teaching position at the École des Beaux-Arts and, for the next four decades, devoted himself to painting and exhibiting his work.

The simplified forms and multiple perspectives of Still-life (1947) contribute to the liveliness of this work. The Blue Dress (1949) is typical of Cosgrove's portraits, with its placid Madonna-like figure, outlined in black. Landscape (1954), with its sense of peace and calm, and its absence of humans, is characteristic of his forest scenes.

Dictionnaire des artistes de l’objet d’art au Québec. (Https://artistesduquebec.ca/)
Cosgrove, Stanley Morel (1911–2002)
Associations
ARC/RCA
CAS (1945)
CGP
Formation académique
Art Association of Montreal
École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal DIP (1928-1935)
Art Association, USA
a étudié avec
Charles Maillard
Holgate
Orozco
Rivera
Enseignement
École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal
Expositions
Groupe
1989 - Hommage à l’École des Beaux-arts de Montréal 1923-1969, Galerie de l'UQAM, Montréal, QC
1989 - Une histoire de collections : Dons 1984-1989, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal du 12 avril 1989 au 4 juin 1989
1982 - 10e anniversaire, Galerie d’art du Parc, Trois-Rivières, QC, février 1982
1972, Studio des Artistes canadiens, St-Hyacinthe, QC
1949 - Quatre peintres québécois, Paul-Émile Borduas, Irène Legendre, Stanley Cosgrove, Goodridge Roberts, Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Ottawa, ON
Les Anciens des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Musée provincial
Solo
1961 - Stanley Cosgrove, rétrospective, Musée des Beaux-arts de Montréal, Montréal, QC du 18 juillet au 13 août 1961
1944 - Paintings and drawings by Stanley Cosgrove, Art Association of Montreal du 7 octobre au 5 novembre 1944
Art Emporium, Vancouver, BC
Downstaire Galleries, Edmonton, AB
Galerie Dominion, Montréal, QC
Galerie Klinkoff, Montréal, QC
Galerie Wallack, Ontario, ON
Laing Galleries, Toronto, ON
L'Art français, Montréal, QC
Musée Laurier
Musées et collections
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
Edmonton Art Galleries, Edmonton, AB
Galerie Nationale du Canada, Ottawa, ON
Hart House, Toronto, ON
Musée de Joliette, QC
Musée de Tel Aviv, Israël
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Montréal, QC
Musée du Québec, Québec, QC
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, ON
Windsor Art Galleries, Windsor, ON
Winnipeg Art Galleries, Winnipeg, MB
Distinctions et prix
1939 - Prix de peinture de la province de Québec
Bourses
1953 - Gouvernement du Canada
1939 - Gouvernement du Québec
Bibliographie
Guides et dictionnaires
Bernier, La peinture depuis 1960 p. 289 et 291
Bernier, Un siècle de peinture p. 133, 175, 186, 207 et 236
Bruens, Investir 2 p. 91
Bruens, Les dessus, les dessous p. 56, 68, 72, 76
Comeau p. 64
De Roussan 1990
De Roussan 1993-94
De Roussan 1995
De Roussan 1996
De Roussan 1998 p. 62
De Roussan 1999 p. 64
De Roussan 2000 p. 76
Guide Vallée 1983 p. 57
Guide Vallée 1989 p. 157
Guide Vallée 1993 p. 339
Lemieux, Regards sur l'art québécois p 116
Lemieux, Cote officielle p. 25
McMann, Biographical Index... p. 48
Catalogues
Exposition rétrospective, 1952 p. 97
Ostiguy, Les esthétiques… p. 62, 63, 94, 95
Trépanier, Jean, Cent peintres du Québec, 1980 p.43-44
Monographies
Boulizon, Paysage... p. 15, 27, 28, 40, 92, 94, 98 et 184
de Roussan, Le NU… p. 15, 17, 106 à 109
Gagnon, Peinture canadienne, p. 37
Lesage, Jules S., MÉLANGES, notes artistiques et propos littéraires, Québec, 1946, p. 89 (BANQ, consulté le 28 octobre)
Prakash, L’art canadien p. 186 et 219
Robert, L’art actuel p. 124, 148 et 177
Robert, L’art depuis 1940
Robert, La peinture au Québec p. 69, 77, 83, 85, 90, 112, 120, 121, 167, 187 et 205
Autres références
Bibliothèque MBAC

 

STANLEY MOREL COSGROVE

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