Emily Coonan was a Canadian post-impressionist painter, born in the Pointe-Saint-Charles area of Montreal. As a member of the Beaver Hall Group, Coonan mostly did figure paintings. Influenced by William Brymner and James Wilson Morrice in early years and later on by European impressionism, Coonan’s works had the features of both impressionist and modern styles. Through her faithful depiction of nature and people, she significantly influenced the development of modernism and impressionism in Canada.
Early life
The daughter of William Coonan, a machinist for the Grand Trunk Railway, and Mary Anne Fullerton, she was born in the Pointe-Saint-Charles neighbourhood of Montreal and was educated at the nearby St. Ann's Academy for Girls. Emily was encouraged to study art early on when she was enrolled in art classes at the Conseil des Arts & Manufactures around 1898, under the instructors Edmund Dyonnet, Joseph Charles Franchere, Joseph Saint-Charles, and Charles Gill. She then studied at the Art Association of Montreal with William Brymner between 1905–1901. Brymner was the primary instructor for the members of the Beaver Hall Group, which Coonan took part, and he was especially open to her exploration into the styles of impressionism and post-expressionism, while also supporting her development of a more modernist style.
Artistic career
In 1907, once enrolled into the Art Association of Montreal, Coonan started exhibiting her work in the institute, where she would continue to show her work until 1933. Her first award-winning piece, Eva and Daisy, was a figure study of Coonan’s sisters, which won her first place in the annual Art Association of Montreal student show of 1907. In 1913, the National Gallery of Canada awarded her with their first travelling bursary, which was a prize that was given to the art student that exemplified the most potential to study and practice in Europe. Due to the onset of the First World War, Coonan’s trip was postponed to 1920. During her stay, she started to demonstrate her stylized version of European modernism within her works and began creating predominantly landscape paintings. Once she returned to Canada in 1921, she became a member of the Beaver Hall Group. Unlike the other members of the Beaver Hall Group who were members of Montreal's Protestant upper class, Coonan was a devout Roman Catholic from a working-class background. As a member of the Beaver Hall Studios, Coonan participated in a few of the four shows that the group put on before the group went their separate ways in 1922. Coonan gained international acclaim as her piece Girl in Dotted Dress was selected to show in the British Empire Exhibition in England. She took inspiration from the French impressionists and James Wilson Morrice. After her instructor, Brymner, died, Coonan created and exhibited fewer works, opting out of participating in the Royal Canadian Academy’s spring exhibition and then only taking part in three more spring shows in her life. Although she continued to paint later in life, Coonan stopped participating in public exhibitions after 1933.
Late life
Coonan did not stop painting altogether after 1933, but she ceased to produce for the public sphere. Due to harsh criticism for her progressive style and the death of Brymner, her mentor, and then her father, Coonan painted only for her family and friends for the remainder of her life. Although Coonan never married and preferred to live and work in solitude, the majority of her works represented her close ones. Coonan lived in her childhood home until 1966. She died in 1971 at the age of 86 while living with her niece Patricia Coonan in Montreal.
