David R. Morrice

Canadian, 1903–1978

" [His] paintings manage to include the intimate trivia that makes for immediate communion between artist and onlooker" " 'Morrice Show,' The Standard, Montreal, 4 March 1950"

David R. Morrice was an artist within the circle of friendships of the Beaver Hall Group ladies. He was a student of Lilias Torrence Newton and Adam Sherriff Scott.

While Morrice was a commerce student at McGill University, he was also a tennis player of great accomplishment, winner of intercollegiate tournaments and international ones as well. After a limited professional career in business, in the mid-1930s Morrice resumed his earlier interest in art, studying at Paris's Académie Colarossi and at the Grande Chaumière (1936-37), as well as London Heatherley's School in London, England (1934-1936).

Come WWll Morrice had a distinguished military career, from 1940 first in the Royal Canadian Artillery and by 1944 a Major with the First Canadian Army, Western Front. He was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in June of 1945. Shortly after receiving the OBE Morrice was transferred to the Canadian Intelligence Corps, returned to Canada, retired from active service by the end of ‘45 and got back to his painting. Morrice had his first one man exhibition at Montreal’s now iconic Dominion Gallery in March of 1950 , an exhibition reviewed in the Montreal Gazette. The review notes Morrice’s “Marked ability" and his “attention to form and colour.”

Blair Laing in, Morrice: A Great Canadian Artist Rediscovered writes of a visit to the home of David Morrice’s parents’ in Montreal on Pine Avenue in about 1948 where the artist, David, had a large studio. Laing notes that in the studio he had “dozens” of small sketches painted by his “Uncle Jim”. “Uncle Jim” was James Wilson Morrice who had bequeathed to his brother Arthur, David’s father, a significant number of fine paintings.

Sources:
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Anne Newlands and Judith Parker, “MORRICE, David Rousseaux,” in A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, compiled by Colin S. MacDonald (Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd.).
Blair G. Laing, Morrice : A Great Canadian Artist Rediscovered (McClelland & Stewart Ltd, 1984), p. 24.
The Gazette, 4 March 1950, p. 20.