Royal Canadian Academy of Arts

History

1880 to 1890

The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General of Canada, John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, was its first patron. The painter Lucius O'Brien was its first president.

The objects of the Academy as stated in the 1881 publication of the organization's constitution were three-fold:

• First - the institution of a National Gallery at the seat of Government;
• Second - the holding of Exhibitions in the principal cities of the Dominion;
• Third - the establishment of Schools of Art and Design.

In the same publication, two levels of membership were described: Academicians and Associates. No more than forty individuals could be Academicians at one time, while the number of Associates was not limited. All Academicians were required to give an example of their work to the collection of the National Gallery. They were also permitted to show more pieces in Academy-sponsored exhibitions than Associates.

The inaugural exhibition was held in Ottawa and the first Academicians were inducted, including the first woman Academician, Charlotte Schreiber. Through the next 10 years, the Academy held annual exhibitions, often in cooperation with regional artists' societies. Exhibitions in Toronto were a joint project of the Academy and the Ontario Society of Artists, while those held in Montreal were held in partnership with the Art Association of Montreal. Exhibitions were also held in St. John, New Brunswick, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Additional academicians and associates were added each year until the membership had more than doubled by 1890. Members were drawn from all areas of the country and included anglophones and francophones. Men continued to out-number women and those female members were identified as painters not as designers or architects.

As Academicians joined, they donated an example of their work to the National Gallery of Canada, building the collection of the as-yet unincorporated institution. A temporary home was found for the collection in a building next to the Supreme Court of Canada and the first curator, John W.H. Watts, RCA was appointed to begin organizing exhibitions.

The third objective—to encourage the teaching of art and design in Canada—was found to be more challenging to address with the limited financial resources available to them.

1891 to present

Canadian landscape painter Homer Watson was elected as an associate, became a full member and later became president of the Academy.

In 1906, artist George Agnew Reid was elected president of the Academy. He held this position until 1909.

The centennial year of the Academy was honoured by a 35 cent, 3 colour postage stamp. The stamp features an image of the original centre block of the Parliament Buildings and the text "Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, 1880–1980", with the name "Thomas Fuller", a member of the Academy and the Dominion Architect of Canada who had designed the original building.

Members

The Academy is composed of members from across Canada representing over twenty visual arts disciplines. This list is not inclusive. See also :Category:Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

1880 to 1890

Academy membership in 1907

Academicians

• Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith, painter
• Franklin Brownell, painter
• William Brymner, painter
• Frederick Sproston Challener, painter
• Alexander Francis Dunlop, architect
• Edmond Dyonnet, painter
• Edmund Wyly Grier, painter
• Gustav Hahn, designer
• John A. Hammond, painter
• Robert Harris, painter
• Louis-Philippe Hébert, sculptor
• William R. Hope, painter
• Alfred H. Howard, designer
• A.C. Hutchison, architect
• Farquhar McGillivray Knowles, painter
• Hamilton MacCarthy, sculptor
• Thomas Mower Martin, painter
• Marmaduke Matthews, painter
• Andrew Dickson Patterson, painter
• John Charles Pinhey, painter
• George Agnew Reid, painter
• James Smith, architect
• Homer Watson, painter
• John W.H. Watts, designer Associates
• William Edwin Atkinson (1862–1926)
• John William Beatty
• Harry Britton
• George Robert Bruenech (1851–1916)
• Florence Carlyle
• Arthur Cox (1840–1917)
• William Cruikshank
• Maurice Galbraith Cullen
• Gertrude Spurr Cutts
• John Wycliffe Lowes Forster
• Joseph-Charles Franchère (1866–1921)
• Robert Ford Gagen
• James Lillie Graham
• Clara Sophia Hagarty (1871–1958)
• Charles Macdonald Manly
• John Christopher Miles
• Edmund Montague Morris (1871–1913)
• Laura Muntz Lyall
• Sophie Pemberton
• Mary Hiester Reid
• Joseph Thomas Rolph
• Joseph St Charles (1868–1956)
• William Albert Sherwood
• William St. Thomas Smith (1862–1947)
• Sydney Strickland Tully
• Frederick Arthur Verner
• Curtis Williamson
• Emma S. Windeat

Inducted in 1971

• Alfred Pellan , artist

Inducted in 1973

• Armand Tatossian, painter

Inducted in 1974

• John Max, photographer

Inducted in 1976

• Richard Gorman, painter
• Ruth Gowdy McKinley, first potter elected to Academy
• Peter H. Kolisnyk, sculptor

Inducted in 1990

• Suezan Aikins, printmaker

Inducted in 1991

• Arto Tchakmaktchian, sculptor}}

Inducted in 1999

• Chris Cran
• Erica Rutherford, visual artist, writer and playwright
• Hilda Woolnough, artist and printmaker

Inducted in 2002

• Catherine Crowston, arts administrator
• Ann Davis, arts administrator
• Trudy Golley, ceramics
• Robert Mellin, architect
• Pitaloosie Saila, printmaker
• George A. Walker, book designer
• Alexander J. Wyse, painting

Inducted in 2004

• Scott Plear, painting

• Gregory Henriquez, architect
• Orland Larson, goldsmith

Inducted in 2006

• Paul Wm. Leathers, metalsmithing

Inducted in 2007

• Aggie Beynon, metalsmithing
• Alexandre Castonguay, digital art
• Douglas Coupland, sculptural installation
• Karen Dahl, ceramics
• James Doran, enamel sculpture
• Noam Gonick, film making
• Robert W. Harrison, ceramics
• Enid Legros-Wise, ceramics
• Laura L. Letinsky, photography
• Simon Neil Minuk, architecture
• Paula Murray, ceramics
• Grace Nickel, ceramics
• Richard James Rivet, painting, printmaking
• Michael Smith, painting
• Arlene Stamp, two dimensional art and design
• Reva Stone, digital art
• Ewa Tarsia, painting, printmaking
• Ione Thorkelsson, glass
• Kamila Wozniakowska, painting

Inducted in 2008

• Catherine Farish, printmaking
• Susan Collett, ceramics

Inducted in 2009

• AA Bronson
• Sara Diamond
• Marius Dubois
• Christian Eckart
• Faye Heavyshield
• Garry Neill Kennedy
• Rita McKeough
• Mary Scott
• John Will
• Justin Wonnacott

Inducted in 2010

• Chantal Gilbert (artist), metal
• Robert Jekyll, stained glass
• Lou Lynn, glass and metal
• Janice Wright-Cheney, textiles

Inducted in 2011

• Philip Beesley, architecture
• Sonia Chow, graphic design
• Richard Thomas Davis, painting, drawing, printmaking
• Leya Evelyn, painting
• FASTWÜRMS, mixed media
• Wyn Geleynse, video art
• Peter Krausz, painting, drawing
• Charles Lewton-Brain, metalsmithing
• Alex Livingston (artist), painting, digital art
• Mike Massie, jewellery
• Laura Millard, painting, photography
• John Noestheden, works on paper, drawing
• Stu Oxley, painting, printmaking
• Anne Ramsden, installation, mixed media, photography
• Dan Steeves, printmaking
• Denis Villeneuve, filmmaking

Inducted in 2012

• Andre Bergeron
• Sandra Bromley
• Tara Bryan
• Ginette Caron
• Sean Caulfield
• Naomi London
• Sarah Maloney
• Jean Pierre Morin
• Nadia Myre
• Anna Torma
• Eva Lapka, ceramics

Inducted in 2013

• Clarence Dick
• Christos Dikeakos,
• Charles Elliott
• Lynda Gammon
• Rusdi Genest
• Chief Tony Hunt
• David MacWilliam
• Les Manning
• Barbara Paterson
• Susan G. Scott
• Andrew Wright

Inducted in 2014

• Diane Bisson
• Marc Boutin
• Luben Boykov
• Karen Cantine
• Donna Clare
• Cora Cluett
• Gene Dub, architect
• Frédéric Metz
• Louie Palu, photographer
• Claude Provencher
• Russell Yuristy

Inducted in 2015

• Claude Cormier, landscape architecture
• Jacques Fournier, bookbinding
• Libby Hague, printmaking
• Tanya Harnett, interdisciplinary
• Wesley Harris, metalsmithing
• Peter Jacobs, landscape architecture
• Lew Yung-Chien, photography
• Amy Loewan, installation, mixed media
• Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, interdisciplinary
• Marie-Christiane Mathieu, interdisciplinary
• Alexandra McCurdy, ceramics
• Nancy Petry, mixed media
• Alan Stein, book design
• John Taylor, photography

Inducted in 2016

• Shuvinai Ashoona, drawing
• David Blatherwick, painting
• Ricardo L. Castro, photography, architecture
• Alan R. Collyer, architecture
• Rosalie Favell, photography
• Les Graff, painting
• Andrew Gruft, architecture
• James Hart, sculpture
• Helen Kerr, industrial design
• Alain LeBrun, illustration, graphic design
• Marian Penner Bancroft, photography, video art
• Frank Shebageget, sculpture, installation
• Allyson Simmie, jewellery design
• Brendan Lee Satish Tang, sculpture
• Peter von Tiesenhausen, sculpture, installation
• Ian Wallace, photography, painting
• Elizabeth Zvonar, collage, sculpture

Inducted in 2017

• Yael Brotman, printmaking
• Diana Dean, painting, sculpture
• Keith L. Graham, architecture
• Barrie Jones, photography
• Royden Mills, sculpture
• Craig Richards, photography
• Jean-Daniel Rohrer, painting
• Marie Saint Pierre, fashion design

Inductees for 2018

• David T. Alexander, painting
• Noel Best, architecture
• Anne Carrier, architecture
• Pierre Coupey, painting
• Shayne Dark, sculpture
• Lucy Hogg, painting
• Katherine Knight, photography
• Gary Pearson, painting and drawing
• Udo Schliemann, design
• Barrie Jones, visual artist (photo, video, sculpture)

Others

• Rebecca Belmore (born 1960), performance and installation work
• Sheila Butler (born 1938), visual artist
• Luc Courchesne (born 1952) (inducted 2010 by way of the RCA Nomination process), interactive art
• George Harding Cuthbertson (1929–2017), yacht designer
• Douglas Patrick George (1943–2025), visual artist
• William Kurelek (1927–1977), artist
• Robert Pilot (1898–1967), artist, muralist
• Leslie Reid (born 1947), inducted 1977, painter and printmaker
• John A. Schweitzer (born 1952), collagist
• Philip Surrey (1910–1990), painter
• George Campbell Tinning (1910–1996), painter
• Gentile Tondino (1923–2001), painter

References

References

1. (1881). "Constitution and Laws of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts". Globe Printing Co., Printer.
2. (1886). "Report and review of financial position and prospective policy of the Academy to His Excellency the Most Hon. the Marquis of Lansdowne, Governor-General, Patron of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, 1886". Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
3. "Our History: Pre 1900". National Gallery of Canada.
4. Foss, Brian. (2025). "George Agnew Reid: Life & Work". Art Canada Institute.
5. [https://archive.today/20130116010109/http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/ourl/res.php?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_tim=2012-07-24T13:57:38Z&url_ctx_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=2218678&rfr_id=info:sid/collectionscanada.gc.ca:pam&lang=eng Credit: Library and Archives Canada; Copyright: Canada Post Corporation]
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37. (11 April 2022). "NSCAD UNIVERSITY ANNOUNCES ITS 2022 HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENTS". NSCAD.
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