Plays about passionate painters

Title: Plays about passionate painters
Variant title:
  • Les pièces ayant trait aux peintres passionnés
Source document: The Central European journal of Canadian studies. 2020, vol. 15, iss. [1], pp. 35-52
Extent
35-52
  • ISSN
    1213-7715 (print)
    2336-4556 (online)
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
Rights access
embargoed access
 

Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.

Abstract(s)
The "(auto)biographical turn" of twentieth-century art has been the subject of scholarly research in various fields. This paper concentrates on stage representations of two iconic Canadian painters: the eccentric Emily Carr, who inspired plays with widely different dramaturgical approaches by Herman Voaden, Jovette Marchessault (in French) and Joy Coghill; and Tom Thomson, who is the main character in Jim Betts' Colours in the Storm. The plays themselves were written over many decades, ranging from the interwar period to the second decade of the twenty-first century. I propose that these works, together with the biographies, contributed to the mythicization of Carr and Thompson.
Le "tournant (auto) biographique" de l'art du XXe siècle a fait l'objet de recherches dans divers domaines. Cet article se concentre sur les représentations scéniques de deux peintres canadiens emblématiques : l'excentrique Emily Carr, qui a inspiré les pièces avec des approches dramaturgiques très différentes d'Herman Voaden, Jovette Marchessault (en français) et Joy Coghill; sans oublier Tom Thomson, le personnage principal de Colours in the Storm de Jim Betts. Les pièces ont été écrites sur plusieurs décennies, entre les deux guerres et pendant la deuxième décennie du XXIe siècle. La thèse proposée par l'article est que ces œuvres, avec les biographies, ont contribué à la mythisation de Carr et Thompson.
References
[1] Betts, Jim. Colours in the Storm. Winnipeg: Scirocco Drama, 2014.

[2] Carr, Emily. Sister and I in Alaska. Vancouver: Figure Publishing, 2014.

[3] Carr, Emily. The Complete Writings of Emily Carr. Vancouver and Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 1997.

[4] Coghill, Joy. Song of This Place. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2003.

[5] Egan, Susanna and Gabrielle Helms. "Life Writing." In The Cambridge Companion to Canadian Literature, edited by Eva-Marie Kröller, 216–240. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

[6] Frye, Northrop. Divisions on a Ground: Essays on Canadian Literature, edited by James Polk. Toronto: Anansi, 1982.

[7] Gammel, Irene. "Staging Personalities in Modernism and Realism." In The Cambridge History of Canadian Literature, edited by Coral Ann Howells and Eva-Marie Kröller, 247–271. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

[8] Grace, Sherrill. Inventing Tom Thomson. From Biographical Fictions to Fictional Autobiographies and Reproductions. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queens University Press, 2004.

[9] Grace, Sherrill and Jerry Wasserman (eds.). Theatre and AutoBiography. Writing and Performing Lives in Theory and Practice. Talonbooks: Vancouver, 2006.

[10] Hornung, Alfred. "Transcultural life-writing." In The Cambridge History of Canadian Literature, edited by Coral Ann Howells and Eva-Marie Kröller, 536–555. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

[11] Marchessault, Jovette. Le voyage magnifique d'Emily Carr. Ottawa: Leméac, 1990.

[12] Newlands, Anne. Emily Carr: An Introduction to Her Life and Art. Firefly: Toronto, 2002.

[13] Shadbolt, Doris. Emily Carr. Vancouver and Toronto: Douglas and McIntyre, 1990.

[14] Silcox, David P. The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson. Richmond Hill: Firefly Books, 2011.

[15] Voaden, Herman. Emily Carr. A Stage Biography with Pictures. http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/Theatre/voaden/emilycarr.htm

[16] Walker, Stephanie Kirkwood. This Woman in Particular: Contexts for the Biographical Image of Emily Carr. Foreword by William Closson James. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1996.

[17] Zimmerman, Cynthia. "The Artist's Crucible: Joy Coghill's Song of This Place." In Song of This Place, by Joy Coghill, iii–viii. Toronto: Playwrights Canada, 2003.