James Wilson Morrice (1869-1954) was an important Canadian Impressionist painter working in Canada, France and North Africa. American-born John Lyman (1886-1967) was a Canadian Modernist artist who spent most of his lengthy career in Montreal. Early in their artistic lives, the two met in Paris where they attended the Academie Julian.
Both artists crossed paths with master French artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954) in different ways and at different times over their careers, and he became a formidable influence. Their encounters in France and North Africa, occurring over the early decades of the 20th century, were decisive for their respective art, and the development of Canadian modernist art. A century later, Morrice, Lyman and Matisse's work is still influential.
In the fall of 2014, Morrice, Lyman and Matisse are the subjects of a large exhibition, Morrice and Lyman: In the Company of Matisse to be held at the Musee National des Beaux-arts du Quebec, and at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, two of Canada's most important art institutions and visitor destinations.
Morrice and Lyman: In the Company of Matisse is a beautiful companion to the exhibition that is expected to be attract thousands of visitors. Illustrated essays by noted art historians, interspersed with wide-ranging portfolios of work by the artists, compare and contrast the artists' individual and common artistic outlooks and output. The book's 150 full-color reproductions by all three painters and archival photographs show Morrice's and Lyman's personal quest for the light, color, balance and serenity permeating the art of revolutionary painters such as Matisse. The light shines through every painting.
About the Author: Francois-Marc Gagnon, PhD is an internationally recognized senior scholar in Canadian visual culture. He is a professor emeritus in the department of art history and film studies at the University of Montreal, an affiliate professor of art at Concordia University and the Founding Director and Distinguished Research Fellow of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art. In 1999, he received the Order of Canada, the country's highest civilian honor.
Michele Grandbois, PhD, is an art historian and has been the curator of modern art at the Musee National des Beaux-arts du Quebec since 1986. She is the author of several books on the history of modern and contemporary art.
John O'Brian has a PhD in art history from Harvard University. Since 1987, he has been a professor and faculty associate of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of British Columbia. He has published more than a dozen books and 70 articles on modern art history and on theory and criticism. He is the editor of the four-volume Clement Greenberg: The Collected Essays and Criticism, which were New York Times "best" books of the year in 1986 and 1993, and have received hundreds of scholarly citations.
