16 Facts About Helen McNicoll

Helen Galloway McNicoll was a Canadian impressionist painter.

Helen McNicoll was one of the most notable women artists in Canada in the early twentieth century and achieved considerable success during her decade-long career.

Helen McNicoll was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1913 and was created an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1914.

Helen McNicoll's parents were David McNicoll and Emily Pashley who were British immigrants.

Helen McNicoll navigated the social side of the art world through lip reading and assistance from friends and family.

From 1902 to 1904 Helen McNicoll moved to London to study at the Slade School of Fine Art with Philip Wilson Steer; she may have met her lifelong partner Dorothea Sharp at this time.

Helen McNicoll then moved to England to study at St Ives in Cornwall.

Helen McNicoll then began her formal art education at the Art Association of Montreal in 1906, a school with a progressive approach to teaching art by allowing female students to study the nude figure.

Helen McNicoll began to study under William Brymner, one of the first Canadian artists to study in Paris between 1878 and 1880.

Helen McNicoll encouraged women artists to pursue professional careers and would have encouraged her.

Helen McNicoll made her debut exhibiting six paintings at annual exhibition at the AAM; she exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and the Ontario Society of Artists from 1906 to 1914.

Helen McNicoll was awarded the Women's Art Society Prize for the best oil painting for Under the Shadow of the Tent at the AAM in 1914.

Helen McNicoll maintained a studio in London while she traveled around Europe from 1908 up until her death.

Helen McNicoll had written to her father saying that they "would rather be here than anywhere"; however, due to Helen McNicoll's ties to the Canadian Pacific Railway through her father, she was sent home.

In Helen McNicoll's case, having a companion was especially helpful due to obstacles she must have faced due to her hearing loss.

Helen McNicoll died in Swanage, Dorset, at the early age of thirty-five due to complications from diabetes in 1915.