Thomas Garland Greene
Thomas Garland Greene (1875-1955), CSPWC, CSGA. Born in Toronto, Thomas Garland Greene is best known for his landscape paintings and etchings. He received his training at Toronto’s Central Ontario School of Art under William Cruikshank, British painter and grand-nephew of the noted caricaturist George Cruikshank. In later years, Greene continued his training at the Westminster School of Art in London, England under William Mouat Loudan and at the Finsbury Art School under Gilbert Bayes.
During his time in London, furthering his pursuit of a career in the arts, Greene founded the Carlton Studio in 1903 along with Canadian artists Archibald Martin, Norman Price, and William Wallace. Carlton Studio came to be the largest graphic design company in the United Kingdom for some time, but the following year Greene left London and returned to Canada to work for an advertising agency.
In later years, Greene took an interest in arts education and worked as a teacher in this field at a variety of colleges, including the Ontario Ladies’ College in Whitby, where he taught for ten years from 1915 to 1925. He also taught in Aurora and Toronto, and in 1922, he drafted lesson plans for drawing classes for the Shaw Correspondence School once located on Bloor Street, Toronto.
Greene was a founding member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, considered to be Canada’s official national watercolour society, and also the Canadian Society of Graphic Art. He also held memberships at the Arts and Letters Club and the Mahlstick Club in Toronto. He exhibited often with the Ontario Society of Artists, the Royal Canadian Academy, and the other societies of which he was a member. In 1935 Greene retired to Hawkestone on Lake Simcoe, and he spent his last years writing and translating poetry.He never married. Greene died in Orillia, Ontario and is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. Today, his work can be found in many prominent public and private collections.
Written by Mina Ivosev.
Thomas Garland Greene
Education
- Central Ontario School of Art, Toronto, under William Cruikshank
- Westminster School of Art, London, under Mouat Loudan
- Finsbury Art School, London, under Gilbert Bayes
Professional Affiliations
- Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour
- Canadian Society of Graphic Art
- Arts and Letters Club, Toronto
- Mahlstick Club, Toronto
Selected Collections
- Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
- Hart House at the University of Toronto, Ontario
- National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
- Ontario Government Collection, Toronto
- Saskatoon Collegiate Institute
Sources:
Thomas Garland Greene Collection – National Gallery of Canada.
“Thomas Garland Greene.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation.
“George Cruikshank.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation.