Laura Adeline Muntz (Lyall) Born June 18, 1860 in Leamington Spa (Warwickshire), UK; died December 9, 1930 (70) in Toronto, Canada. Laura Muntz was born in Radford, Warwickshire, England. Her family emigrated to Canada when she was a child to take up farming in the Muskoka District of Ontario. As a young lady, Laura Muntz was trained to be a school teacher but her interest in art eventually led her to take private art lessons from J.W.L. Forster. Encouraged, she traveled to Paris, France to study at the renowned Académie Colarossi where she was influenced by the Impressionist style. She received honorable mention in 1895 at the Paris Salon, won a bronze medal at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1901 and a silver medal at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1904. The National Gallery of Canada purchased one of her paintings in 1910. On her return to Canada, Muntz set up a studio in Toronto and became an Associate of the Royal College of Art (ARCA). Laura Muntz was the first woman artist to receive recognition outside of Canada. Some her works were exhibited at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois and then in 1894 as part of the Société des artistes francais in Paris. However, her career had to be put on hold following the death of her sister who left behind eleven children that Laura took responsibility for. It would be nine years before she was able to devote any time to painting but she lived only a few more years and passed away in 1930 in Toronto. Laura Muntz is interred in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. Her paintings hang in the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Parliament Buildings in Toronto, Parliament Buildings, Victoria, Vancouver Art Gallery and private collections in New York, Chicago and throughout Canada. http://www.northlandart.com/htmfiles/bios/bio_muntz.html undefined

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