F. Cleveland Morgan Chronology

 

1819, November 14: Henry Morgan was born in Gray Craig, Scotland. He was the sixth of seven children of Colin and Mary Morgan [DM p. 16]

1844, April 2 Henry Morgan left Scotland for Montreal, aged 25, arriving 47 days later. [DM pp.18-19]

1852, James Morgan, elder brother of Henry moved with his family to Montreal to join his brother’s firm. James Jr., his son and the father of FCM, was then six years old.

1860, Founding of the Art Association of Montreal

1879, May 26: The Art Association of Montreal’s first Gallery opened on Phillips Square and soon after a Committee on Industrial and Decorative Art was established.

1881, December 1: Frederick Cleveland Morgan was born, the second son of James Jr. and Anna Lyman Morgan [DM p. 123]

1886, William Brymner was appointed head of the Art School of the Art Association of Montreal.

1887, FCM lost the sight of his right eye in an accident with a knife while playing with his friend Willie Alexander. FCM spent the next 6 months with both eyes bandaged. [DM p. 123]

c.1888, FCM and his brothers Douglas and Harold begin the Evergreen Collection of artifacts and natural history specimens at Graystaines, (much of which is preserved at Le Sabot.) [DM pp. 123-124]

1894, October 25. FCM vacationed in Italy with his family and his tutor Mr. Clay, traveling to New York and returning after New Year 1895 [DM p. 124-127.

1893, Inauguration of the renovated and expanded gallery of the Art Association of Montreal

1895, September. FCM and his brothers were sent to attend school at Hill House, St. Leonard’s by the Sea, in Sussex, England. [DM p. 127, NM p. 17]

1895, December. FCM and family spent Christmas vacation in San Remo, visiting Paris on route, seeing the Louvre and Notre-Dame Cathedral. [NM p. 35]

1896, December. Again FCM and family spent Christmas vacation in San Remo. [NM p. 35]

1897-1898. FCM continued his studies in England at Dover College, in Dover, studying Latin, Greek, French, Geography, Roman History, Script, Mathematics and Science. [NM, pp. 17, 22.]

1898. The Morgan family enjoyed a winter Mediterranean cruise. FCM notes visiting the museum in Algiers, the cathedral and the museum in Carthage, as well as stops in Malta and Messina. [NM, p. 35]

1899, December. FCM spent the Christmas vacation in Egypt, he purchased a red clay lamp at Luxor, (later declared genuine by C.T. Currelly.) [NM p. 35]

1900, September. FCM entered Trinity College, Cambridge, when he was eighteen years old, reading Botany, Advanced Embryology, Geology and Practical Zoology. FCM traveled to Montreux, Switzerland, Belgium, where he visited the Weirtz Museum, and to Holland during his spring vacations, visiting museums and galleries. [DM pp. 128-129; NM p. 22, 35]

1900.  James Morgan offered the new Gallery on the fifth floor of Henry Morgan & Co. to the newly founded Canadian Guild of Handicraft for their inaugural exhibition.

1901, December, FCM traveling in Egypt

1902. A Henry Morgan and Co. Colonial House catalogue stated:

Not sparing any pains nor expense to provide for every taste, we have always in stock the avowedly largest selection of engravings and etchings of every description, embracing all possible subjects, such as: landscapes, marines, sports, portraits, views, genre, allegory, mythology, religion, etc., all by the best known artist-engravers.

Original water-colour paintings by well known artists are always shown in our art gallery; their prices range from $10.00 to $5,000.00. [NM, p. 25.]

1903, 23 July. FCM graduated from Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts degree. [NM,  p. 17.]

1904, Spring. Having completed a M.A degree in Zoology at McGill University, at the insistence of his medical advisors and his family, FCM abandoned further graduate studies, and joined the family firm of Henry Morgan & Co. [DM p. 128; NM p. 17.]

1904. FCM purchased two Ruskin bowls in Montreal, made by Howson Taylor. [NM, p. 46]

1905, circa January 23. Art Association of Montreal. A Catalogue of the Picture which will be on view at the Twenty-Eighth Loan Exhibition in the Art Gallery, from the Twenty-Third of January to the Fourth of February, Nineteen Hundred and Five. “went with Cleve Morgan” in Bessie Shaw’s hand inside back cover. [ESM scrapbook]

1905, May. While in Algiers FCM  purchased embroidered textiles.

1905, FCM accompanied Bessie Shaw to the exhibition of the Canadian Guild of Handicraft, {Catalogue with note in BSM’s hand is tipped into her scrapbook at LeS.]

1906 Dr. Francis Shepherd, Dean of Medicine at McGill University was elected as President of the Art Association of Montreal, serving until 1910

1906, March 5, Monday 4:30 pm. Marriage of FCM and Elizabeth Marian Thaxter Shaw at St. Paul’s Church, reception after the ceremony at 310 Peel Street, (home of the bride’s parents). [Invitation in ESM scrapbook]

1906, March 7. FCM and Bessie visited New York on route to the West Indies.

1906. Birth of FCM’s first son, Ian. [DM, p. 129]

1907. FCM joined the Montreal Art Association. [DM, p. 135]

1908, April. FCM in London and Paris.

1908, May 31.  Morgan was shopping in London with is collector friend Willie Hoggan.

1909. Birth of FCM’s daughter Lorraine. [DM p. 129]

1910, The Art Association of Montreal commissioned plans for the new Sherbrooke Street Gallery from the Maxwells.

1911 James Ross is elected President of the Art Association of Montreal, serving until 1913.

1911. Birth of FCM’s second son, James Bartlett. [DM p. 129]

1912. Built a country home, Le Sabot, at Senneville, designed by David Shennan, adjoining Graystaines which James Morgan had sold that same year.

1912, December 9, the Montreal Art Association moved from Phillips Square to the new building on Sherbrooke Street.

1913. James Morgan moves to Bermuda, renovating and extending an eighteenth century house he called Summerlands.

1913 Morgan attended the International Exhibition of Modern Art held in the National Guard Armory in New York between February 17 and March 15th. The Armory Exhibition, as it came to be known, was organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors presented 1250 works by 300 avant-garde American and European artists, many for the first time in North America.

1914, Sir. H. Vincent Meredith was elected President of the Art Association of Montreal, serving until 1917

1915. FCM was appointed member of the hanging committee of the Montreal Art Association.

1915, January. FCM and C.T. Currelly lunched at the home of Sir William van Horne; FCM and Currelly had lunch together again the next day. [NM, p. 52]

1915, September 11. Death of Sir William Van Horne.

1915, November 25. FCM wrote an obituary article on Sir William Van Horne for the McGill University magazine.” [NM, p. 50.]

1916. William Brymner, director of the Associations Art School and President of the Canadian Academy called for the establishment of a decorative arts collection in Montreal. Brymner address a dinner held in his honor at the Windsor Street dinning room of the Canadian Pacific Railway, on the occasion of his induction as a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.

1916, Autumn, Cleveland Morgan curated an exhibition of Oriental rugs and Chinese vases at the Art Association

1916, December. The Art Association’s new Museum, as the decorative arts collection was then known, opened. FCM served as the first Chairman of the Museum Committee. Members at that time included his Father, his cousin Major H.W. Morgan, W.S. Maxwell, the Museum’s architect, and Ramsey Traquair, Morgan’s friend and head of the McGill Architecture Department who served on the Committee for the next eighteen years, as well as artists William Brymner and Maurice Cullen. [NM, p. 78]

1916, FCM’s son Ian, was living in Bermuda with his grandparents for health reason:

1917, February 20, “Pottery: An Historical Sketch Read before the Women’s Art Society of Montreal”:

1917. Morgan purchased a Rodin drawing from Alfred Stieglitz’ New York gallery Photo Secession

1917, December 19, FCM in New York, purchased an 8th century Coptic ms. leaf on vellum from Stephan Bourgeois, (later given by Mabel Molson to Museum;) also Persian Timurid miniature “King fording a River.”

 

1918 Dr. Francis Shepherd, Dean of Medicine at McGill University was elected to a second term as President of the Art Association of Montreal, serving until 1928

1918, March, FCM purchased a bronze female nude “Eternal Force” by Gaston Lachaise: “a very powerful piece of modeling 12 ¼” high, cast by A. Kunst, N.Y. #7 of Exhibition held in S. [Steven] Bourgeois[‘s Gallery], March 1918. Several years later I met Lachaise who told me I had been his first purchase.” [FCM Inventory iii: B2] Bourgeois also donated an Egyptian alabaster container (1918.B.1) to the Museum.

1920, inventory records the purchase of hooked rugs made by Mrs. J. Brunet of Senneville [X28]

 

1920, purchased small jade Aztec mask from Hamilton Easter Field, New York. Originally given to McGill Library, it later to enter the Museum’s collection by exchange. [X 45]

1920, New York dealer Steven Bourgeois donated several Egyptian objects to the Museum collection, including a small Roman-period ivory relief of a dancing woman (1920.B.1), and a pottery vase (1920.B.2).

1920, April motored in France with Bessie.

1920, May: visited London

1921, January: FCM in New York

1921. FCM commissioned a coloured wood-cut from Ramsey Traquair depicting Le Sabot to be used as a Christmas card. Printed from six blocks, it was described by Morgan in his inventory as “a very charming little woodcut.”

1922. Mabel Molson made her first donation to the Art Association Museum, $2.00. [DM p. 136]

1922. FCM commissioned a second coloured wood-cut from Ramsey Traquair depicting the Rock Garden at Le Sabot to be used as a Christmas card. Printed from nine blocks, the design was based on a watercolour FCM later kept in his office.

1922, December 3, the Art Association opened to the public for the first time on a Sunday, using funds from the “Sunday Opening and Sustaining Fund” to compensate for the loss of the restricted funds bequeathed by Gibb’s niece Miss Orkney.

1925, November 24. FCM was elected fellow of the American Geographical Society.

1926. February 22. FCM purchased a plate and three tiles from Bernard Leach for the Museum collection. An exchange of letters with Leach ensued.

1927, April 18. Death of C. Thaxter Shaw, the father of Bessie Morgan, after a long illness

1927. Visit to England [MS report by FCM in gardening papers.]

1927, December, “Large oval glass Bowl and Saucer by Simon Gate…, signed on base Orrefors. Purchased from Orrefors through Swedish Consulate, Xmas 1927.”

1928, April, While visiting Spain, FCM purchased several wrought iron pieces in Grenada, as well as textiles in Seville.

1929, Herbert Barber Walker is elected President of the Art Association of Montreal, serving until 1936.

1932, May 19. Death of James Morgan Jr. (II) in Bermuda.

1934, January 21 Goodrich Roberts gave two of his brush drawings to FCM [now at Le Sabot downstairs]

1936, May, Bessie writes to her mother from Edinburgh: “been through the National Gallery, very weary. Shall rest while Cleve does the Gardens again.”

1936, May, An exhibition of French Canadian Handicrafts was held at Henry Morgan & Co.  [NM, p. 132]

1937, Art Association President Dr. Martin called for the founding of an acquisitions committee and the appointment of a professional Director

1937, Dr. Curtis F. Martin, Dean of Medicine at McGill University, is elected President of the Art Association of Montreal, serving until 1947.

1937, January 10th FCM gave an address to Women’s Art Society;

1938. Formation of separate Acquisitions Committee at the AAM. Morgan served as a member. [NM, p. 60.]

1938, Harrey A. Norton, FCM’s friend and fellow collector, who had generously donated ancient galss and Islamic pottery to the Museum, pledged $50,000.00 towards an addition to the Art Association building. Plans were commissioned from architects Fetherstonhaugh & Rumford. When cost estimates exceeded original estimates Norton donated an additional $10,000.00; other donors included J. W. McConnell and Mrs. Charles Meredith.

1939, February 13. The addition to the AAM building was inaugurated, which doubled the previous exhibition space. This allowed for the expansion of the Museum, and as FCM noted this “had enabled us for the first time to arrange the collections in something like historical sequence.” [NM, p. 110.]

1938, 22 April. From the Henry Morgan & Co. Minute Book:

It was announced by Mr. F. Cleveland Morgan that arrangements had been completed for the Art Association of Montreal in collaboration with McGill University to hold an exhibition of French Canadian Furniture in our Auditorium. This was confirmed by the Meeting, the expense in connection with the Exhibition to be born by Henry Morgan & Company Ltd. [NM, p. 133]

1939, FCM purchased textiles from the Elsburg Collection, New York

1939, June 30. FCM wrote to Brummer that “Mr. Norton has promised the money for the two Greek vases.” [N.M. p. 81]

1940, April 30, FCM was invited  by Grovner Whalen, President of the New York World’s Fair of 1940, to serve on the honorary Committee for the exhibition “Mastepieces of Art”to be held in 1940  Morgan accepted and served together with Walter Pach, President, Rolf H. Waegan, Germain Seligman, Arthur Frankfurter, Millard Blumer and Charles Henschel. The New York Fair was originally held in 1939, but its popular success resulted in its extension.

1940, December 11; funeral of Harold Morgan, FCM’s brother

1940. FCM became a Vice-President of Henry Morgan & Co. [DM p. 128]

1941, February 19: the death of Adaline van Horne, daughter of Cornelius Van Horne, and a friend of FCM. The Museum was one of the beneficiaries of her will, and FCM would be consulted in the division of the estate.

1941, August. FCM’s friend and associate Arthur Purvis, was killed in an accident when his aircraft hit a bridge while taking off. He was traveling to New Brunswick to meet with Lord Beaverbrook. Purvis was president of Canadian Industries Limited and a governor of McGill University. [Fong, McConnell, p. 366]

1943. FCM noted in his Diary:

Some of Pierrepont (sic) Morgan’s pictures have recently been offered to the Art Gallery by Knoedler's in N.Y. They include a very fine Hobbema, some superb Frans [sic] Hals, a Cuyp & and some English portraits. It was decided to my surprise & relief to dig deep and by the Hobbema – I hope to balance this purchase with a fine Renoir or Cesanne [sic] even if we exhaust all our funds. [NM, p. 60)

1942, FCM reported the historical sequence of the Museum rearrangement

has enabled us to form a single room of our Gothic material and we are, therefore, now able to show in a very skeletal form the evolution of art expression from the twelfth to the nineteenth century in a progressive sequence. This is only the beginning of what we started out to do twenty-seven years ago. It is true that the gaps in the design are still more obvious than the plan itself but a plan is there for those with eyes to see and it will be our aim to fill these gaps as funds and opportunities offer. [NM, p.110]

1944, November 18. FCM in New York

1945, April. The Morgan family, together with J.W. McConnell, presented lands in Senneville McGill University to create the Morgan Arboretum.

1946. FCM purchased eight North West Coast aboriginal works from the collection of Lewis Comfort Tiffany for the Museum collection from his estate sale. [NM, p. 122]
            
1946, April 23. External Affairs Canada issued a letter authorizing FCM “to proceed to France on a journey which is of national importance to Canada.” [Le S ms]

1947, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts appoints its first Director, Robert T. Davis

1947, January 15th: FCM left Montreal for NY, traveled in Europe from January – May:

1947, May 29th, the American Association of Art Gallery Directors met in Montreal, visiting the Museum.

1948. Painter Stanley Cosgrove designed a green and white printed fabric, produced by Canadart Print Co., for Henry Morgan & Co. (MMBA 938. Df.12).

1948: FCM traveled to Guatemala & Mexico: January 25-April 22.
 
1948. FCM elected President of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, serving until 1952, when he became Chairman, and subsequently Honourary Chairman until his death in

1948, April, FCM traveled in Mexico.

1949, The Art Association of Montreal becomes the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

1949: February 6th-May 27th: Italy, Paris and England

1949, Sept. FCM to Dr. S. K. Lothrop: “Our mutual friend, John Wise was in Montreal recently…”

1949, November 10: Raymond Roussil’s carved wood sculpture The Family was left in the garden of School of Art and Design. Mimi Morgan wrote her father-in-law, then in Europe, to inform him of the sculpture’s “arrest” by the Montreal Police and the resulting scandal.

1950: February 12th-May 20th FCM traveled to Italy, Belgium & France.

1951, April: FCM returned to London.

1952, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts appoints its second Director, John Steegman, replacing Robert T. Davis

1952 Feb. 6th –May 17th: FCM traveled in Spain, France and England

1952. FCM appointed trustee of the National Gallery of Canada while in London. A contemporary wire service news article observed “the move expands the board to nine members, in line with the recommendation of the Massey Commission on the Arts and Sciences.”  [NM, p. 69.]

1952. FCM retires from Henry Morgan & Co. [DM, p. 128]

1952. FCM planned to travel to Spain and collected letters of introduction to Museum officials and scholars in Madrid etc. [q.v. Stephan Bourgeois and Jose Weissberger correspondence dossiers.]

1952, May 5th visited the National Gallery in London to see  the loan exhibition Liechtenstein pictures [the FCM / NGC Correspondence File, McGill Sp. Coll.]

1952. Death of FCM’s friend Ramsey Traquair.

1953. The Museum received an extensive bequest from Harry Norton.

1953 Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy and England April 19th-August 4th

1953, July 28 to August 4th. FCM in Europe. [NGC Archives]

1953, July 15. FCM attended the Court Dinner at Apothecaries Hall of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners in London, and gave an address.

1953, December 14. FCM elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Art, Manufacturers and Commerce.

1954. FCM received a Doctor of Civil Law degree from Bishop’s University.

1954 February 6th-May 26th: England, Majorca, Roquerune, & Italy

1954, April 27, FCM visited Bernard Berenson at I Tatti near Florence. [NM, p. 67.]

1955, February 9th-May 14th: England, Rouergue, Malta, Italy

1955, March 3, FCM in Europe; letter from FCM in Rome to H.O. McCurry.

1955, November 1. FCM gave a significant gift of rare books from his library to McGill University

1955, November, FCM to New York, visiting galleries he compiled a detailed list of available pictures which he forwarded to the National Gallery of Canada, for acquisition consideration.
1955 December 10-December 30  FCM traveled to Panama & Peru traveling with John Nora Wise; [NM, pp. 114-115.] Christmas with American ambassador in Lima; spent $500 I Peru on pottery for MMFA

1956, Ruth Jackson was appointed the Museum’s custodian of records, working closely with FCM. Later this position was reclassified as registrar. Her appointment followed several years of volunteer work at the Museum. Jackson recounted to BR that when she arrived FCM handed her a several boxes of unsorted receipts and notes, and that there were no files or other formal records. Jackson had moved to Montreal in 1951 from Ottawa where her family had emigrated from London during WW II. Jackson would become a respected ally of FCM, a guest at his home, and among those frequently visiting him during his last months in hospital in 1962.

1956, February 28th-May 27th: FCM traveled to Italy, France & England

1956, May 23. FCM traveled to Brighton to visit the widow of collector I. M. Beasley, “call on Mrs. Beasley to see her wonderful collection of Benin, Chinese, South Seas etc. etc.” [NM, p. 122.]

1956, November. FCM resigns as president of the MMFA after a nine year term of office. [unidentified newspaper clipping, Le S]

1957 Col. Hugh M. Wallis is elected President of the Art Association of Montreal, serving until 1964.

1957 April 16 – May 1st Arizona; home via Chicago

1957, April 22. FCM in Tucson, visits the Kress collection. “How much more can learn from one good example than from a room full of second and third rate stuff.” [NM, p. 140.]

June 1957 FCM traveled to Southbend, Indiana, to sit for a portrait bust commissioned by the Museum from Ivan Mestrovic, then teaching at Notre Dame University to sit for the portrait bust commissioned by the MMFA.

1958, March 2-May 20: FCM traveled to Spain, Canaries & England

1958, May 5: traveled to Brighton to meat  Mrs. Harry Beasley  and to see her late husband’s collection of tribal and Asian art, from which Morgan would later acquite several objects. [NM, p. 122.]

 

1959 FCM traveled to Nassau & Jamaica January 15th-February 13th

1959 FCM traveled to Italy & England February 21st-May 14th

1959, October 2. FCM resigns as a trustee of the National Gallery of Canada over the dismissal of Alan Jarvis by the Diefenbaker Government and the subsequent appointment of his successor Charles Hubbard without consulting the Gallery’s Board. [NM, p. 69.]

1960, January 24th-April 26: California & Hawaii

1960, February: Mimi Morgan wrote to FCM and Bessie from Austria: “Paul Emile Borduas, our Canadian surrealist died the other day in Paris”

Returning from Hawaii, the Morgans arrived in Vancouver where they visitit Lawren Harris, and traveling to several Canadian cities on the return to Montreal.

1960, May 30. FCM received a Doctor of Civil Law degree from McGill University.

1961. The Montreal Museum of Fine Art organized an exhibition of 80 works selected from FCM’s donations.

1961 Jan. 15 to Jamaica returning Feb 19th

1961 March 21st. FCM traveled to Palm Beach Florida, and returned April 8th.

1961, 29 April to Bermuda; returning May 12th

1962, February 5th FCM to New York, visited Galleries and Museums, saw friends such as John Wise

1962, Feb. 18th cont. trip to Florida: Coconut Grove, Palm Beach, Sarasota, returning home from Miami on March 14.

1962, April FCM in New York.

1962, April 3rd, FCM sailed to Italy, arriving in Palermo, April 14; in Turin for Easter, April 22; Grenoble April 24th;

1962, May 4th, FCM to London, returning May 19th

1962, June 24th, admitted to Montreal General Hospital; returning home September 5th.

1962, October 3. FCM died in Senneville at the age of 81.

1970. FCM posthumously received the Award of Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society for creating the ‘Mount Royal’ iris.