More Than a Century of the Arts in Toronto
Celebrating both the creative and performing arts — and equally devoted to spirited, sometimes biased and often
hilarious argument — the Arts & Letters Club quickly became a forcing-ground for ideas in all artistic disciplines. Into the Club’s embrace came people who would become prime movers in creating the artistic culture we enjoy today: great names such as Robertson Davies, Vincent Massey, Marshall McLuhan, Eden Smith, Wyly Grier, Ernest MacMillan, Mavor Moore and many, many more. Their contributions to the arts in Canada are legendary.
The avowed purpose of the club was to be a rendezvous for people of diverse interests to meet for mutual fellowship and artistic creativity. It was to become a “comradely haven for kindred souls.”
By the fall of 1909 permanent quarters were located at 36 1/2 King Street East. One year and an eviction notice later, the Club moved to the second floor of 57 Adelaide Street East, the Court House of the County of York. Ten years and another eviction notice later, the Club rented, and extensively renovated, our present quarters at 14 Elm Street.
It became primarily a luncheon club. Sir Edmund Walker, before being knighted for his many contributions to Toronto’s cultural life, entered in his journal for Dec. 16, 1913: “Lunch, Arts & Letters Club, to meet Sir Wilfrid Laurier. First time I have met him since I opposed him in the Reciprocity Fight.”
Vincent Massey, later to become Canada’s first native-born Governor-General, took advantage of his two years as Club President (1920-1922) by defying the frowns against publicity. In his 1963 memoir, What’s Past is Prologue, he wrote:
“I spent many happy and refreshing hours at the Arts & Letters Club in Toronto. It had, and still has vitality and personality … The presiding genius of the Club for many years was Augustus Bridle, who fully embodied its spirit. One of his greatest contributions was to lose its constitution so that we were not duly concerned with machinery. The constitution did survive in musical form, having been set to plainsong by Healey Willan.”
Massey was at the helm in 1920 when the Club finally obtained permanent and conventional quarters by renting St. George’s Hall on Toronto’s Elm Street. Unbelievably, the Club was still renting the premises from the St. George’s Society 66 years later when, in 1986, the Society finally agreed to sell.
The Club’s Constitution requires that over 50 percent of members be professionals in the arts. Over the years these have included many prominent writers, architects, musicians, visual artists in all media, and the stage, film and broadcasting arts. Perhaps none has brought more prominence to the Club than the Group of Seven, the pioneering landscape painters who convinced art lovers that Canadian art did not have to copy the dark traditions of Europe but could celebrate our bright and vigorous Canadian vistas. All seven were members of the Club and, according to the late A.J. Casson, who liked to call himself “number eight of the Group of Seven,” they all would meet “just about every day, for company and a good meal.” On November 11, 1925, Casson and a group of dedicated fellow watercolorists founded the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour in the Club’s library.
Until 1985, the Club restricted its membership to men. The breakthrough to admitting women “to all forms of membership” took place at a landmark meeting on February 19, 1985. More than a hundred voting members turned up, a few with vociferous arguments against the motion. Bill Duthie held that there was “little doubt that women’s superior acumen and intuition would, in the end, take over the club, leaving the male members with no opportunities to develop their limited skills.” In favour of the motion was historian Jack Granatstein, who commented that “we should live up to the spirit of the Charter of Rights and it would be splendid if this could be done by the time that the Charter’s equality provisions come into force”. After a lengthy, and generally evenhanded discussion the motion was passed with a 64 to 38 vote.
With about 500 members, today the Club is full of activity. In 2008, the Club celebrated its centenary, gathering together the long list of names and accomplishments that have confirmed the vision of our founders in a lively book, The Great Adventure: 100 Years at the Arts & Letters Club, by Past-President Margaret McBurney, and released that year. Club newsletters, from 1908 to the 1994, the LAMPSletter, are now available for research. These newsletters represent a rich source of information on key figures and events in Canadian cultural history.
View LAMPSletters
FIND A PAST MEMBER
Are you doing research on a Canadian historical figure?
Want to know if your grandfather was a member of the Club?
You can do a name search for individuals who were members any time between 1908 and 30 years ago.
If you have a particular question regarding an individual whose name you find on our register, please contact the Club Archivist.
The term of a Club President is normally two years. Each President selects a Club artist to create a portrait of him or her. These hang in the Club’s hallway and lounge area. You can see the “Gallery” through this link.
Over a number of years Arthur Lismer drew cartoons of members during lunch at the Club. This is the link to the full set of 194 Lismer drawings in the Club’s Lismer Collection.
Club Awards
and Honours
See Current Award Holders
and Order of Canada Members