The Legh Kilpin Art Collection

Community Partners:
The Langley Centennial Museum and National Exhibition Centre
http://www.langleymuseum.org

Project Directors:
Lisa Codd, Langley Museum
Email: lcodd@tol.bc.ca
Barbara Winters, History in Art, University of Victoria
Email: bwinters@uvic.ca

Student Researchers:
CURA Student Assistantships: Sandi Bligh, Geoffrey Carr, Catlin Lewis and Tusa Shea, graduate students, History in Art; Sonia Lochner, Ph.D. student, History in Art
UVic Work Study: Claudia Lorenz, Karen Kasner and Debbie Turnbull, History in Art; Sarah Cook, Anthropology; Steve Slavik, Hispanic Studies
Youth Community Action Program: Debbie Turnbull, History in Art

The Langley Centennial Museum houses the largest collection of works by Legh Mulhall Kilpin, an artist and teacher who emigrated from England to Montreal in 1906. The Museum collection was donated by the Kilpin family and includes over 100 works created in a variety of media; 57 are designated Canadian Cultural Property.

Kilpin established a successful career as an art teacher for the Westmount School Board and as a professional artist in Montreal until he died in 1919. A member of the Art Association of Montreal and the Montreal Arts Club, he associated with prominent artists and collectors of the period. His works were exhibited regularly at the AAM, the Arts Club and at Royal Canadian Academy shows. The CURA project provides an opportunity to examine his career as a working artist and the position of immigrant artists during the first 20 years of the 20th century.

A project exhibition, accompanied by information on the museum's website, is featured at the Langley Centennial Museum from October 2002 to January 2003. A comprehensive catalogue is planned for the fall of 2003. It will represent a permanent record of the research on the artist, his work and career.

Langley Centennial Museum Collection

George John Kilpin (oil/canvas)
Country Road, Montford PQ (watercolour)
Ely in the Fens (etching)