Isabel Grace McLaughlin, CM, O.Ont, CGP, Hon. CPA (b. 10 Oct 1903; d. at Toronto 26 Nov 2002) was a Canadian visual artist, patron and philanthropist. She was an early Modernist Canadian painter specializing in landscapes and still life with a strong interest in design. McLaughlin appreciated depicting small "...growth, lichen, rocks and mosses; the exquisite beauty of colur and pattern delighted..."

Born in Oshawa

Oshawa

Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario approximately 60 kilometres east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of both the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe. It is now commonly referred to as the most...

, Ontario, McLaughlin was one of five daughters to the founder of General Motors

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

 of Canada President Col. Robert Samuel McLaughlin

Samuel McLaughlin

Colonel Robert Samuel McLaughlin, CC, ED, CD was an influential Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He started the McLaughlin Motor Car Co...

. She studied art at the Ontario College of Art 1926–1930 under Group of 7

Group of Seven (artists)

The Group of Seven, sometimes known as the Algonquin school, were a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920-1933, originally consisting of Franklin Carmichael , Lawren Harris , A. Y. Jackson , Franz Johnston , Arthur Lismer , J. E. H. MacDonald , and Frederick Varley...

 member Arthur Lismer and Yvonne McKague Housser

Yvonne McKague Housser

Yvonne McKague Housser, . Painter and teacher. She was an early Modernist Canadian painter specializing in landscapes and design.-External links:*...

 whom the later she referred to as "remarkable"., Paris 1929, Vienna 1930 and with Hans Hofmann

Hans Hofmann

Hans Hofmann was a German-born American abstract expressionist painter.-Biography:Hofmann was born in Weißenburg, Bavaria on March 21, 1880, the son of Theodor and Franziska Hofmann. When he was six he moved with his family to Munich...

 ca. 1947-52. McLaughlin was to become lifelong friends with McKague Housser and the two went on painting excursions together often. In 1948 McKague Housser painted a watercolour depicting McLaughlin in it titled: "Isabel the Archaeologist, Cap Chat River"

In 1933 McLaughlin was a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters and served as its first woman president in 1939

On December 1, 1987 McLaughlin made a substantial donation of art work from her own personal collection of works by other artists to The Robert McLaughlin Gallery. Some of these artists included Prudence Heward

Prudence Heward

-Biography:Born Efa Prudence Heward in Montreal, Quebec, Canada into a well-to-do family, she was educated at private schools. At a young age, she showed an interest in art and, encouraged by her family, she attended the Art Association of Montreal school for training.During World War I, Heward...

, Louis Archambault

Louis Archambault

Louis Archambault, was a Quebec sculptor.Born in Montreal, Quebec, he won the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's Allied Arts Medal in 1958.In 1968, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada....

, B. C. Binning

B. C. Binning

Bertram Charles Binning , popularly known as B. C. Binning, was a leading Canadian artist...

, Andre Bieler, Emil Bistram, Emily Carr

Emily Carr

Emily Carr was a Canadian artist and writer heavily inspired by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. One of the first painters in Canada to adopt a post-impressionist painting style, Carr did not receive widespread recognition for her work until later in her life...

, Parekseva Clark, Lyonel Feininger

Lyonel Feininger

Lyonel Charles Feininger was a German-American painter, and a leading exponent of Expressionism. He also worked as a caricaturist and comic strip artist.-Life and work:...

, Lawren Harris

Lawren Harris

Lawren Stewart Harris, CC was a Canadian painter. He was born in Brantford, Ontario and is best known as a member the Group of Seven who pioneered a distinctly Canadian painting style in the early twentieth century. A. Y. Jackson has been quoted as saying that Harris provided the stimulus for the...

, A. Y. Jackson

A. Y. Jackson

Alexander Young Jackson, was a Canadian painter and a founding member of the Group of Seven.- Early life and training :...

, Alexandra Luke, Peter Haworth, Bobs Coghill Haworth

Bobs Coghill Haworth

Bobs Coghill Haworth was a South African-born Canadian painter and potterer. She practiced mainly in Toronto, living and working with her husband painter and teacher Peter Haworth...

, J. E. H. MacDonald

J. E. H. MacDonald

James Edward Hervey MacDonald was a member of the famous Group of Seven Canadian artists. He is the father of Thoreau MacDonald.-Life:...

, Anne Savage, Irene Kindness, Arthur Lismer

Arthur Lismer

Arthur Lismer, CC was an English-born Canadian painter and member of the Group of Seven.-Early life:At age 13 he apprenticed at a photo-engraving company. He was awarded a scholarship, and used this time to take evening classes at the Sheffield School of Arts from 1898 until 1905...

, Sarah Robertson among others.

She was the recipient of the Order of Ontario in 1993 and the Order of Canada in 1997

Dedications

In 1994 Canadian artist Sheila Maki dedicated her solo exhibition at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery "Spirit of Freedom" to Isabel McLaughlin.

Portraits

During her 99 years of life McLaughlin was the subject of two authorized portrait sculptures one by Florence Wyle

Florence Wyle

Florence Wyle was an American-born Canadian sculptor and designer. She practiced chiefly in Toronto, living and working with her partner sculptor Frances Loring...

 and Christian Cardell Corbet

Christian Cardell Corbet

Christian Cardell Corbet is a Canadian sculptor, painter and designer. He co-founded and was first President of the Canadian Portrait Academy.- Quotes :...

A mid-life portrait photograph

Photograph

A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...

 was authorized by Reva Brooks in the 1950s.

Following her death her extensive arts career archives was donated to Queen's University

Queen's University

Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...

Archives It was at this same time her own art works, of which she kept most of during her career, became available to the public and currently is slowly being distributed annually to auction houses across Canada and sold to the scrutinizing collector. One such serious collector of McLaughlin's works is artist/collector Christian Corbet.