article

Dorothy Elsie Knowles

An important exhibition of her work was organized by the Edmonton Art Gallery in 1983, followed by exhibitions at Canada House in London and Paris, the Chicago and Los Angeles art fairs, and n Vancouver in 1987.
Nature
Acrylic on canvas, 1994, by Dorothy Knowles (courtesy Douglas Udell Gallery).

Dorothy Elsie Knowles

 Dorothy Elsie Knowles, artist (b at Unity, Sask 7 Apr 1927). Knowles studied at U Sask, with Eli BORNSTEIN, and was stimulated by the EMMA LAKE ARTISTS' WORKSHOPS (Sask), where in 1962 Clement GREENBERG encouraged her interest in landscape. Her work is distinguished by a delicate, broken touch influenced by Cézanne and by thin paint surfaces that owe to a suggestion from Kenneth Noland. Knowles's long-standing interest in watercolours aligns her with the traditions of English landscape painting so important in Saskatchewan since the arrival in 1907 of Augustus KENDERDINE.

An important exhibition of her work was organized by the Edmonton Art Gallery in 1983, followed by exhibitions at Canada House in London and Paris, the Chicago and Los Angeles art fairs, and n Vancouver in 1987. Her work was surveyed in a 1994 travelling exhibition organized by the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon and again by the same institution in 2008 in an exhibition called Land Marks, which was accompanied by a book of the same name.

In 1987 Dorothy Knowles received the SASKATCHEWAN ORDER OF MERIT and in 2004 was awarded the ORDER OF CANADA.

Further Reading

  • Bruce Grenville, Dorothy Knowles (1994); Terry Fenton, Land Marks, The Art of Dorothy Knowles (2008).

Help students and educators this school year!

The Canadian Encyclopedia is a project of Historica Canada, a non-profit, nonpartisan organization devoted to teaching Canadians more about our shared country. Last school year, over 13 million people used The Canadian Encyclopedia as a trusted resource. Nearly 5 million of those users were students and teachers. Please donate today to help even more Canadians access free, impartial, fact-checked, regularly updated information about Canada’s history and culture in both official languages. All donations above $3 will receive a tax receipt.

Donate