Marjorie Smith was a member of the group of Montreal painters who grew out of shared training at the Art Association of Montreal, an influential school that was a chrysalis for so many of Canada’s great painters. Smith went on to establish a style all her own, but perhaps influenced by her friend Jean Paul Lemieux. Her portraits of children, most often single, and women, also as single sitters, uses colour freely and applies it with a vivid an expressive hand.
1907-2005 Jori Smith’s extensive painting career spanned nearly seventy years. She began her art studies at the Art Association of Montreal with Randolph Hewton in 1922, and later the same year transferred to the Ecole des Beaux Arts where she received a number of awards. In 1926 Albert Laberge, art…
1907-2005
Jori Smith’s extensive painting career spanned nearly seventy years. She began her art studies at the Art Association of Montreal with Randolph Hewton in 1922, and later the same year transferred to the Ecole des Beaux Arts where she received a number of awards. In 1926 Albert Laberge, art critic for La Presse, singled her out as among the three best students at the school. In 1930 she married artist Jean Palardy with whom she worked closely. They set up a short-lived commercial art company with Jean-Paul Lemieux in 1930. They also painted together in the Charlevoix region of Quebec for a number of years. The portraits Jori Smith painted in this region are among some of her most noted works. In 1938 she became the only female member of the Eastern Group of Painters, and in 1939 was one of the founding members of the Contemporary Art Society where she exhibited in 1939, 1945, and 1946. Her work was also included in a number of the Spring Exhibitions of the Art Association of Montreal from 1928 to 1956 as well as the Montreal Arts Club in 1937. From 1955 to 1999 she had a number of solo shows in private galleries. She was the recipient of numerous awards, including a government grant to paint in Haiti in 1946, the Jessie Dow Prize for Painting in 1955, as well as the Medaille by the Quebec National Assembly in 2001 and the Order of Canada in 2003. Her work is held in a number of collections including the Musée du Québec, Montreal Museum of Fine Art, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, National Gallery of Canada, and the National Archives of Canada. (Canadian Women Artists History Initiative, Concordia University, Montreal)
