BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

William (Will) Menelaws

1877 - 1966

Island Arts and Crafts Society
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (Founding Member)
Victoria Sketch Club (Life Member)

Will Menelaws was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, according to McMann, and flourished from 1913 - 1965. According to Macdonald, he studied at the Edinburgh College of Art and spent "several years studying architecture". He was a pupil of Heriot-Watt College, and the Royal Scottish Academy Life School. He won the Keith Prize at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1903. He was a painter in oil, watercolour, pastel, tempera, in stage scenery and window backgrounds. He also drew with pen and ink.

He came to Victoria in 1913, and became one of the founders of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and the Victoria Sketch Club, which was a continuation of the Island Arts and Crafts Society. He was a teacher and art supervisor at Oak Bay, and a teacher at the University School, Victoria, B.C.

He exhibited his work with the Island Arts and Crafts Society starting in 1912 and up until 1940. He also exhibited at the Seattle Art Museum.

He exhibited his work in the 1924, 1929, and in the 1930 Spring Exhibition held by the B.C. Society of Fine Arts. Menelaws also exhibited in the 1945 British Columbia At Work exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

He exhibited in the Seattle Art Museum's annual Northwest Artists exhibition in 1930.

He exhibited a painting at the Canadian National Exhibition in 1930.

In 1932 he was a signatory to an agreement to boycott the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa for their exhibition and purchase policies related to Canadian artists. He was noted as being a Victoria artist.

Menelaws moved to Port Angeles, Washington in 1964.

B.C. Vital Statistics on-line has no information on this artist as of June 2021.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1924 May 3 - 17 BCSFA   16th Annual Exhibition Old Wharf, Victoria, B.C.
Smoke Clouds, Victoria Harbour
Flemish Giant
1929 May 18 - June 8 BCSFA   21st Annual Exhibition A Summer Night
Arbutus and Fir
Portrait
1930 May 31 - June 14 BCSFA   Spring Exhibition A Sketch Club Study
1930 Aug. 22 - Sept. 6 CNE   Fine Art A Sketch
1933 Mar. 3 - 15 VAG   IACS Vancouver Island Exhibition The Old Barn
Portrait
Oil Sketch
1939 Mar. 14 - 26 VAG   IACS Vancouver Island Exhibition An Old Shack
Old Lumber Mill
1945 Nov. 13 - Dec. 2 Labour Arts Guild   B.C. At Work Brick Clay, Victoria
Victoria Brick Works

References

ISLAND ARTS & CRAFTS CLUB 5th ANNUAL EXHIBITION (refer to IACS14)

SEATTLE ART MUSEUM - NORTHWEST ARTISTS EXHIBITIONS 1914 - 1975
     Refer to NWA BC artists by exhibition
     Refer to NWAA BC artists alphabetically

WHO'S WHO IN NORTHWEST ART (refer to WWNA41)

THE FINE ARTS IN VANCOUVER, 1886 - 1930 (refer to THOM69)

ISLAND ARTS AND CRAFTS SOCIETY - List of Exhibitors

ARTISTS IN CANADA 1982 - UNION LIST OF ARTISTS' FILES (refer to AIC82)

A DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN ARTISTS (refer to M)
      Short biography with three references.

BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF ARTISTS IN CANADA (refer to BIAC03)
      2 references cited for Menelaws: M and WWNA above.

CITY & PROVINCIAL DIRECTORIES 1919/21/23-32/33/45 (refer to DIR)

https://aggv.ca/emuseum/people/3610/william-will-menelaws;jsessionid=2BBC42314B2C01376E71ADFCD0AED7B1

http://oakbayartists.com/WillMenelaws.html

Clippings

""The Old Wharf, Victoria," by Will Menelaws, is a restful picture. It is a faithful delineation of a mood obviously reminiscent, an evening mood shared by the piles of the wharf and the sleepy boats tied up to it."
      From "Exhibition of B.C. Society of Fine Arts (Second Notice)"
      Vancouver Province, May 9 1924

" ... the 118 artists who have signed the agreement to date ... include ... Will Menelaws ... "
      From "Canadian Artists Unite to Boycott National Gallery" by The Canadian Press
      Montreal Gazette, December 8 1932


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