Charles Macdonald Manly

C. M. Manly
Born	Charles Macdonald Manly 1855 Englefield Green, Surrey, England
Died	1924 Toronto
Nationality	Canadian
Education	London and Ireland (until 1884)
Known for	lithographer, painter in watercolor and oil, pen-and-ink, ink wash drawings and pastels, educator
Awards	Honourable Mention at the Pan American Exposition (1901); Montreal Spring Exhibition (1911)

Charles Macdonald Manly (September 1855-April 3, 1924) was a lithographer, painter, sketcher and educator in the early days of Canadian art.

Biography

Manly was born in Englefield Green, Surrey, England. His father was a Methodist minister. His family emigrated to Canada when he was young, finally settling in Toronto.

After working in lithography for some years in Canada, he went to England to study at the Heatherley School of Fine Art, London and then, Ireland, where he attended the Metropolitan School of Art, in Dublin (1881-1884) (renamed the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) with Edwin Lyme. Afterwards, he worked in London as a lithographer, then settled in Toronto, where he helped found the Toronto Art Students' League (1886-1904). The League promoted drawing from life and Canadian subjects. It led to several successors. Manly's work was used in the League Calendars (1893-1904), specifically in the 1894 caledar. These are considered by scholars and the public alike as a high point in the history of the graphic arts in Canada (there was a show about them at the National Gallery of Canada library and archives in 2008, curated by Charles C. Hill).

Manly went sketching with Frederick Henry (Fred) Brigden in Eastern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes (1894-1906). In 1901, he first visited Conestogo, Ontario. He came back each year to sketch in the area until 1918, when he bought property in this district. He wrote articles about the Conestogo country for the Canadian Magazine (c. 1908).

In 1904, he began to work at the Central Ontario School of Art and Design (later the Ontario. College of Art) (OCAD U) and remained on its staff until 1924 when he died. Among his students was C. W. Jefferys. He was a member of the Ontario Society of Artists (O.S.A. 1876-1879, 1889-1924)) and the Royal Canadian Academy (A.R.C.A. 1890) and showed his work in the academy often (1890-1922), usually watercolours. He became President of the O.S.A. in 1903, as well as the Associated Watercolour Painters, Toronto (1912), along with Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith, Frederick Henry (Fred) Brigden, Robert Ford Gagen, T.G. Greene, C.W. Jefferys, J.D. Kelly, J. Ernest Sampson, George Chavignaud and George Agnew Reid.

He won Honourable Mention at the Pan American Exposition in 1901 and the Jessie Dow Prize at the Montreal Spring Exhibition (1911).

In the Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario is a book inscribed on the front endpaper "Notes: various / C.M. Manly, Toronto" (1855) as well as Manley's biographical questionnaire from 1912.

Selected public collections

• Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s Univ., Kingston, Ont.;
• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; (Willows, 1889)
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; (3 works -Autumn Landscape, 1898; Evening on the Conestogo, 1908; Pierrette, 1917)
• OCAD University, art gallery collection, graphic material;
• Ontario Government, Tor.;

Further reading

• Hill, Charles C. (2008). Non clamor sed amor: the Toronto Art Students' League calendars 1893-1904. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 15 August 2024.