Modernism in Canada and The United States
In Canada and the United States modernism emerges from transnational engagements with global intellectual movements while also grappling with local intellectual, cultural, and political developments…
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Stella, Joseph (1877–1946)
An Italian-born American artist, Joseph Stella contributed to the adaptation of Futurism in the United States and to the advent of Precisionism. After immigrating to…
West, Nathanael (1903–1940)
Nathanael West was an author and screenwriter whose work spanned the decade of the 1930s. He was born Nathan Weinstein on 17 October 1903 in…
Zorn, John (1953--)
John Zorn is an American avant-garde saxophonist and composer. Zorn performs on alto saxophone and is one of the leading figures in New York City’s…
Hopps, Walter (1932–2005)
Walter Hopps was an American art dealer and curator of modern and contemporary art. Best known for organizing the first museum retrospective of Marcel Duchamp…
Wilson, Woodrow (1856–1924)
Thomas Woodrow Wilson served two terms as the twenty-eighth President of the United States (1913–1921) and is remembered for leading the nation through World War…
Adaskin, Murray (1906–2002)
Born in Toronto, Ontario and passing in Victoria, British Columbia, Murray Adaskin was a violinist, composer, and academic whose music was widely performed in Canada.…
Machine-Age Exposition (New York, 1927)
The Machine-AgeExposition took place from 16–28 May 1927 at 119 West 57th Street in Steinway Hall, a commercial space in Manhattan, New York. It exposed…
Douglas, Aaron (1899–1979)
Aaron Douglas was an African American artist and educator often referred to as the father of “Black Art.” He was a leading figure of the…
Gerrard, Saida (1913–2005)
Toronto-born Saida Gerrard was one of the first artists to import modern dance to Canada following study in the United States. Her early training included…
Kaprow, Allan (1927–2006)
Allan Kaprow was an American artist whose oeuvre included painting, assemblage, and “environments.” He is best known as the originator of “happenings,” a term he…
Montreal Modern Dance Company (1952–1955)
The Montreal Modern Dance Company (1952–1955) was an important though shortlived collaborative project between Lithuanian émigrés and dancers Yoné Kvietys (1924–2011) and Birouté Nagys (1920--).…
Huston, John (1906–1987)
John Huston was an American actor, director, and screenwriter, who became one of the world’s most influential filmmakers. Born in Missouri to Rhea Huston, a…
Little Theater Movement
The Little Theater Movement comprised a web of amateur theater activities undertaken across much of the United States between 1912 and 1925. Little Theater opposed…
Allen, Barney (1902–1967)
Barney Allen was the pseudonym of Solomon Allen, a Jewish-Canadian novelist from Toronto, Ontario. His writing combined influences from James Joyce and Sigmund Freud. His…
Livesay, (Kathleen May) Dorothy (1909–1996)
Dorothy Livesay was a Canadian poet, journalist, activist, social worker, instructor, field worker, and author of short fiction, literary criticism, radio plays, and autobiography. Her…
Mather, Bruce (1939--)
Bruce Mather is a Canadian composer. He first studied music at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto (1952–57) and at the University of Toronto…
Barnard, Mary (1909–2001)
Born in Vancouver, Washington, Mary Barnard was a writer best known for Sappho: A New Translation (1958) and her correspondence with Ezra Pound, which she…
O’Neill, Eugene (1888–1953)
Eugene O’Neill is regarded as the quintessential modernist among American playwrights, and many of his works show an affinity with the themes and methods of…
Washington, Booker T. (1856–1915)
Born into slavery in Virginia, Booker Taliaferro Washington was the most prominent spokesman for Black Americans at the end of the 19th century. After attending…
Sorel, Ruth Elly Abramovitsch (1907–1974)
Upon immigrating to Montreal in 1944, Ruth Abramovitsch (also known as Abramowitz) Sorel was one of the first dancers to regularly teach and perform modern…
Pasolini, Pier Paolo (1922–1975)
Known in North America mainly as a provocative filmmaker, Pier Paolo Pasolini (March 6, 1922–November 2, 1975) is also celebrated in his native Italy as…
Braxton, Anthony (1945--)
Anthony Braxton, born 4 June 1945 in Chicago, Illinois, is an avant-garde jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer who performs and records primarily on saxophones. An active…
Steichen, Eduard Jean (1879–1973)
Photographer, painter, curator and horticulturalist Eduard Jean Steichen was born in Luxembourg and immigrated to the US in 1881. He was self-taught, favoring soft, harmonious…
Mercure, Pierre (1927–1966)
In 1952, Pierre Mercure became the first director of the CBC musical television broadcasts. His long-standing concern with the interaction between the different arts gave…