Nora Collyer

Nora Collyer was a member of the Beaver Hall Hill Group of women artists who came to prominence in Montreal in the 1920s and 30s. Under the leadership of A.Y. Jackson, the group attracted and fostered the work of artists interested in the newest European trends and unconcerned about the consequences of cold-shouldering traditional approaches to subject representation. Remarkably, unlike its Ontario counterpart, the Group of Seven, the Beaver Hall Group had a large contingent of female artists, and though the Group prided itself on its eschewal of any bias-related to class, gender, or artistic preference-it seems to have been especially hospitable to women and proved an excellent springboard for their careers. She studied under Brymner and Maurice Cullen at the Art Association of Montreal and became a prominent art teacher in Montreal in the 1920s.