Maurice Galbraith Cullen
Quick Facts
Biography
Maurice Galbraith Cullen (6 June 1866 – 28 March 1934) was a Canadian landscape artist known for hiswinter landscapes.
Life and work
Cullen was born on June 6, 1866, in St. John's, Newfoundland. In 1870 his family moved to Montreal, Quebec. He travelled to Paris at the age of 22 to study painting at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and at the Académie Julian where he fell under the influence of the impressionists. In 1910 he married Barbara Merchant Pilot, a widow whose son, his stepson, grew up to be the artist Robert Wakeham Pilot.
Beginning in January 1918, Cullen served with Canadian forces in the First World War.He came to the attention of Lord Beaverbrook, who arranged for him to be commissioned as an "official war artist" along with Frederick Varley, J.W. Beatty and C. W. Simpson.
Cullen died March 28, 1934, at Chambly, Québec.
Exhibitions
The Galerie L'Art français exhibited Cullen's works. Another exhibition, Legacies of Impressionism in Canada: Three Exhibitions, was held from January 31 to April 19, 2009 at the Vancouver Art Gallery. In 2019, the National Gallery of Canada show, Reflections and Interpretations: Canadian artists from Impressionism to Modernism, opened in Munich.
Selected works
The Mill Stream (ca 1905), National Gallery of Canada.
Customs Port, Venice (1897), National Gallery of Canada
Rising Tide, Le Pouldu, Bretagne (1901), Musée des beaux-arts du Québec
Snowfall, Lac Tremblant (1922) Private Collection
Ice Breaking, L'Assomption, (ca 1914), National Gallery of Canada
Ile d'Orleans landscape, Musée de la civilisation, Quebec
No Man's Land (Douai plain, France) (1920), Canadian War Museum
Honours
- Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
- He was declared a Canadian Person of National Historic Significance in 1944.