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Kathleen Moir Morris was an associate member of the Beaver Hall Group. Although the group existed for only a few years (1920 – 1922), their iconic address of Beaver Hall Hill defines the traditional core of Montréal. The group was comprised of men and women, defying the prevailing concept that it was only men who were ‘serious’ artists.
Like most of the Beaver Hall women, Kathleen was not married. Of the group, only Lilias Torrance Newton managed career and family. But the women themselves were close friends. They led comfortable lives and were nurtured by their families. World War I divided families in 1914. By 1929, the Depression years had set in, followed by World War II.
Life was not easy for budding artists in the early twentieth century. The Group were underappreciated and recognition was by no means guaranteed.
Somewhat despondent that so few recognised her talent as an artist, in 1976, Kathleen was ecstatic at being featured in a Retrospective at the Walter Klinkhoff Gallery. The Morris family and subsequent generations have enjoyed a life-long friendship with the Klinkhoff gallery and generations of the family.
Kathleen was born in 1893 and was 7 years old in this delightful photograph from 1900. She is holding a vintage doll and is clearly a happy child.
Often portrayed as having a ‘nervous disease’ or cerebral palsy from birth, she displays none of these symptoms at a young age. Pictures of Kathleen at age 20 (below) don’t seem to highlight symptoms.
Today, one might diagnose Kathleen’s symptoms as cervical dystonia, a rare disease that does not typically begin in childhood or adolescence.
In spite of disabilities in later life, Kathleen lived to be 93 and was the last of her Beaver Hall female contemporaries to pass away in 1986.
The Morris family at Marshall’s Bay. left to right: Jim, Harold, Kathleen with fishing rod and holding a book, their father, John Montague Morris, and Alf.
When the family went for summers to Marshall’s Bay (near Arnprior, Ontario), they were ‘going to ‘the Bay’ or, as Kathleen always said, ‘going to Camp.’ The ‘camp’ of her childhood was a primitive wooden shack with no electricity, conveniences and only the Ottawa River for water. The property is still in the family, much modernised and produces memories as happy now as it did in the 1920’s and ’30’s.
This is a 1905 snap of Kathleen and her mother, Eliza Morris, taken at Marshall’s Bay. The bottom of the photos says, ‘Down on the Point.’
Kathleen with her cousin Angus in 1964. In later years, Kathleen seemed quite bird-like and her voice was high-pitched and raspy. She reminded me of Edith Piaf who was known as the Little Sparrow.
This is the most charming and delightful picture of Kathleen. This oil painting is by Robert Harris who was a friend of Kathleen’s brother, Jim, and a family friend. She would have been about 20 years old in this beautiful cameo.
Kathleen’s brother, Jim, fought in France in World War I. Below is a letter that Kathleen wrote to him. She is well informed of world events, animal welfare and civic happenings. She mentions that she has had a letter from Pru. This is Prudence Heward, her colleague in the Beaver Hall Group.