Anne (Annie) Douglas Savage

Heffel Auction House Biography and Notes

Anne Savage's career as an art educator had an impact that still resonates today with the students and alumni of Montreal's Baron Byng High School, where she taught from 1922 until 1948. The school was established in 1921 and notes Mordecai Richler, Irving Layton, Moe Reineblatt and William Shatner among its graduates. Savage was the school's first art teacher, and during her long tenure there she employed a method of teaching focused on creative stimulus, positive reinforcement and showing complete trust in the innate artistic talents of all her students. Quite ahead of its time, this method produced outstanding results, and Savage soon became a beloved teacher. She oversaw the painting of murals on the school walls by students and arranged for the donation of important works of art by her artistic contemporaries to the school's collections. Thus, the walls at Baron Byng were graced with a remarkable array of art. From sketches by J.E.H. MacDonald and fine canvases by A.Y. Jackson to a wintry street scene by Robert Wakeham Pilot, Savage built a collection with the eye of an experienced curator and the insight of a gifted educator. As well, she contributed a number of her own works, including Northern Lake / Trees in the Wind.