The Circus by James Wilson Morrice. Edition of 200. Circa 1963.

James Wilson Morrice was born in Montreal in 1865, the son of a wealthy merchant. From 1882 to 1889, he studied in Toronto to become a lawyer. As a student, he began to paint landscapes in the Adirondacks and at Lake Champlain. He exhibited a painting with the Royal Canadian Academy in 1888, and in 1889, two of his paintings were hung in the spring show of the Montreal Art Association. When he was 24, he abandoned law to become an artist. He traveled to Europe, where he studied art at the Académie Julian with Henri Harpignies and became friends with Henri Matisse, Albert Marquet, and other avant-garde French artists. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Silkscreen artists Hans, Peter, and Traudl Markgraf participated in several reproduction programs to promote Canadian art after they immigrated to Canada from Germany in the mid-1950s. The Markgrafs developed a silkscreen process noted for its printing quality and its faithfulness to the original painting. The National Gallery of Canada became involved with the Markgrafs in the mid-1950s when Montreal collector and philanthropist Sidney Dawes introduced then Gallery director Alan Jarvis to the work of the Markgrafs. A collector of the work of James Wilson Morrice, Dawes arranged for the reproduction of Morrice's work, the production of which he financed. The National Gallery also arranged for the Markgrafs to reproduce works by seven other artists from its collection, financed by the Queen's Printer in Ottawa. In 1959, the Markgraf brothers and the Gallery produced a series of "Tom Thomson and Group of Seven" pochoir (silkscreen) prints. Following their partnership with the National Gallery in 1960, the Markgrafs continued on their own, with Hans leaving Canada for Germany and Peter partnering with Artistica, a Montreal-based publisher and distributor of fine art prints, books, and cards. In 1967, the Canada Council partnered with Peter Markgraf to produce prints that focused on contemporary Canadian art. Following this project, the Markgrafs continued to print work for private clients under "Editions Markgraf". In 1977, the Markgrafs moved to Vancouver to work for Bill Ellis of Canadian Native Prints Ltd. They continued to print for individual artists and after 1978, created their own silkscreens of west coast scenery that were later reproduced as lithographs. In the United Nations year of International Cooperation, the Markgrafs printed four Jamaican paintings through Robie Kidd.

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