Carr, Emily (1871-1945), was a noted Canadian painter and writer. She painted for most of her life and began her writing career only a few years before her death.
Carr was born on Dec. 13, 1871, in Victoria, British Columbia. In 1904, she made the first of many visits to Indigenous (native) villages in British Columbia. Most of her early paintings portray the Indigenous culture that she saw there. These works received little favorable attention, and so Carr gave up painting almost completely in 1913.
In 1927, an exhibit of Carr’s paintings at the National Gallery in Ottawa, Ontario, brought her to the attention of the Group of Seven. The members of this group were nationally known Canadian landscape painters. They and their works inspired Carr to resume painting and encouraged her interest in landscapes. Most of her later paintings reflect her desire to capture the spirit of the vast forests of Canada’s west coast. Carr’s first book, Klee Wyck (1941), is a collection of stories about her experiences among the Indigenous people. She also wrote six other books. She died on March 2, 1945.
