Abstract

By describing the art training of Canadian women artists, this thesis will document the presence of women in Canadian, English and French art schools from the 1870s to 1929. The nineteenth-century feminine ideal of the accomplished young woman aided in the development of women's artistic sensibilities in the eyes educators. Upon enrolment in art schools, women often found they were subject to segregation, restricted access to studying from the nude, and poorer studio space. While this was often the experience of women in English and European art schools before 1860, this does not seem to have been the case in Canada as the art schools opened both men and women were admitted to the schools and outright segregation or discrimination. In fact women were often in the majority in the student population and the institutions depended on the women's presence (specifically, their enrolment fees) for their survival.