Emily Carr’s relationships with her four older sisters were central to her life and shaped both her personality and her art. They were bound tightly by loss, responsibility, and Victorian family expectations, but there was also deep strain. After the early deaths of both parents, the Carr daughters were left to manage the household together, at a time in history where women could not even hold a bank account. The family atmosphere became stricter…

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Paintings by Emily Carr received international attention for the first time in one of the biggest and most influential art exhibitions in the world. In an unprecedented event for a Canadian painter, seven oil on canvas paintings by Carr from the Vancouver Art Gallery’s collection were included at dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel, Germany in 2012. During its 100-day run dOCUMENTA attracted more than 750,000 people who paid to see works by more than 70…

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In the British Columbia Archives at Victoria are one hundred and twenty-three pictures by Emily Carr, in pen, pencil, charcoal, watercolour and oils. These formed part of the valuable collection of Indian art and natural history which belonged to the late William Arnold Newcombe, biologist, anthropologist and ethnologist of Victoria, who died suddenly in November 1960. His collection also embraced that of his father, Dr C. F. Newcombe, a noted expert on natural history…

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