Hal Ross Perrigard was member of Montreal’s
important Beaver Hall Group of painters
Biography
Hal Ross Perrigard was born in Montreal in 1891, and showed an early talent for art.
He studied under Canadian masters Maurice Cullen and William Brymner.
Hal Ross Perrigard began to exhibit his oil paintings in his early 20s, including with the Art Association of Montreal and with the Royal Canadian Academy.
The painter was a member of the Beaver Hall Group, which was a Montreal-based group of artists who were active as the same time as the Group of Seven.
Although not as well known as the Group of Seven, there’s been increased attention given to the importance of the Beaver Hall Group in recent years. The modernist Beaver Hall Group had a strong representation by women artists, including Anne Savage, Mabel May and Nora Collyer, which was unusual at the time, as well as painters A.Y. Jackson, Edwin Newgate and Randolph Stanley Hewton.
Using a fluid and loose style, Hal Ross Perrigard painted numerous brightly-coloured landscapes and streetscapes of Quebec, many of which he filled with everyday people going about their lives.
The National Gallery of Canada purchased his painting titled Lalage in 1923.
Hal Ross Perrigard was elected as an Associate member of the Royal Canadian Academy (ARCA) in 1924.
The artist created advertising posters and murals for the Canadian Pacific Railway, and one of his murals was displayed at the Canadian pavilion at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. He also created a number of recruitment posters for the Canadian army during the Second World War.
He split his time between his hometown of Montreal and Rockport, Massachusetts, where he had a studio. He was an active member of several art groups in Quebec and Massachusetts.
He died in Montreal in 1960.
