Born 1859, in Hamilton (Ontario); died 1906, in Sweden.

Painter, watercolourist. Portraits, landscapes.
William Blair Bruce studied under Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury. Between 1883 to 1885, he worked at the Barbizon School, from where he sent several works to the Royal Academy, London. He also painted in Grez-sur-Loing and was one of the first American's to set up a studio in Giverny (1887-1888). He married a Swedish artist, Caroline Benedicks and in 1899 the couple went to live in Sweden. He exhibited his paintings at the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris, especially, in 1900: Portrait of Chief Xien-da, Redskin of Canada; and in 1905: Portrait of Chief Red Cloud, Iroquois Redskin.

Group Exhibitions

2007, Giverny Impressionniste: une Colonie d'Artistes, 1885-1915, Musée d'Art Américain, Terra Foundation for American Art, Giverny

Museum and Gallery Holdings

Hamilton (AG): The Phantom of the Snow (188, oil on canvas); Agreeable Meeting (1893, oil on canvas)
Oshawa (Robert McLaughlin Gal.): The Stream at Giverny (c. 1887)
Ottawa (Nat. Gal. of Canada): Bathing Woman, Capri (1890, oil on canvas); The Smiths (1894, oil on canvas); Joy of the Nereids (1896, oil on canvas)
Paris (Mus. d'Orsay): Marine (1889, oil on canvas)

Bibliography

Newlands, Anne: Canadian Art: From its Beginnings to 2000, Firefly Books, Willowdale, 2000.
Gehmacher, Arlene: William Blair Bruce: Painting for Posterity, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario, 2000.