(b Sheffield, S Yorks, 27 June 1885; d Montreal, 23 March 1969). Canadian painter, draughtsman and teacher. He studied at the Sheffield School of Art (1898-1905) and at the Acad?mie des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp (1906-7). In 1911 he emigrated to Canada, where he worked as a commercial artist for Grip Ltd, Toronto. In 1916 he began a long and distinguished career as a teacher, during which he held a number of influential posts, including that of principal of the Victoria School (now Nova Scotia College) of Art and Design (1916-19) and principal of the School of Art and Design at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1942-67). He had a profound interest in the teaching of art to children, and was influenced in this by Franz Cizek and by John Dewey. Lismer's belief in the importance of a child's imaginative growth and self-expression led to him founding the Children's Art Centre at the Art Gallery of Toronto (1933) and at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1946).
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