Florence McGillivray The Forgotten Matriarch of Canadian Modernism

In the early twentieth century, Florence McGillivray was one of the most accomplished, prolific, and well-travelled female artists in Canada. Her peers recognized her skills and mastery in Post-Impressionistic and Modernistic styles and respected her as a tenured art instructor. But for the most part, history has forgotten her. A name almost everyone has heard of, on the other hand, is Tom Thomson. Tom was a family friend of Florence's, and there is evidence that she enlightened him about the international Modernist movement she had observed in Europe, planting a seed that would change Canadian art forever.