Arquivo - L.L. FitzGerald Fonds

Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald (1890-1956) had a long association with the Winnipeg School of Art. He began teaching there in 1924 and became its principal in 1929, a post he held for twenty years. He was the first local artist and the second Canadian to head the school.

Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald was born March 17, 1890 in Winnipeg. He grew up at 672 Sherbrook Street, with his parents, father Lionel Henry and mother Belle (née Hicks), brother Jack and sister Geraldine (possibly more siblings?). He spent many summers in Snowflake, Manitoba, where his maternal grandparents lived. He began to work at various jobs in his early teens, and did not begin to pursue art full-time until 1912, the year he married Felicia (Vally) Wright of Ottawa, a singer. They had two children, Edward, born March 30, 1916, and Patricia, born March 25, 1919. In 1924, he and his wife moved into a house in St. James, 30 Deer Lodge Place, where LeMoine lived until his death. His first art training was obtained at age 19 through night classes at A.S. Keszthelyi’s art school in Winnipeg, from approximately 1909 to 1912. His first one-man show was held at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 1921. Through the winter of 1921-1922, he studied with Boardman Robinson and Kenneth Hayes Miller at the Art Students League in New York. In 1924, he joined the Winnipeg School of Art as a teacher, and five years later became its principal. He became the Group of Seven’s only member from the West, replacing J.E.H. MacDonald in 1932. The next year he became a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters. LeMoine did little travelling, spending most of his life in Manitoba, but did visit the West Coast several times between 1942 and 1949, and made one trip to Mexico, to visit his son, in 1951. He was awarded an L.L.D. from the University of Manitoba in 1952. LeMoine died August 5, 1956 of a heart attack, and his ashes were scattered at Snowflake. In his art, he drew inspiration from John Ruskin’s theories on art, as well as the works of Paul Cézanne and Georges Seurat. His most famous works include Williamson’s Garage and Doc Snyder’s House.