# James MacCallum

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{{short description|Canadian artist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = James M. MacCallum
| image            = 
| image_size       = 
| alt              = 
| caption          = 
| birth_name       = James Metcalfe MacCallum 
| birth_date       = 1860
| birth_place      = [Richmond Hill](/source/Richmond_Hill%2C_ON), Ontario
| death_date       = 1943
| death_place      = [Toronto](/source/Toronto), Ontario
| spouse           = 
| field            = 
| training        = studied medicine at the [University of Toronto](/source/University_of_Toronto) and later earned his doctorate in medicine at the same university; further training in London and Berlin
| movement      = 
| works            = 
| patrons          = 
| awards	   =
| elected         = 
| known_for        =  [ophthalmology](/source/ophthalmology) and one of the most important patrons of the [Tom Thomson](/source/Tom_Thomson) and the [Group of Seven](/source/Group_of_Seven_(artists))

}}

'''James Metcalfe MacCallum''' (1860&ndash;1943) was a Canadian [ophthalmologist](/source/ophthalmologist) and one of the most important patrons of [Tom Thomson](/source/Tom_Thomson) and the [Group of Seven](/source/Group_of_Seven_(artists)).

==Biography==
He was born in [Richmond Hill](/source/Richmond_Hill%2C_ON), north of Toronto, but due to his father, a Methodist minister, being sent to the area,<ref name="utoronto">{{cite web |title=James Metcalfe MacCallum |url=https://www.ophthalmology.utoronto.ca/james-metcalfe-maccallum-1860-1943|website=www.ophthalmology.utoronto.ca |publisher=University of Toronto |access-date=2021-05-01}}</ref> spent part of his early life on the rural shores of [Georgian Bay](/source/Georgian_Bay) and Muskoka. He studied medicine at the [University of Toronto](/source/University_of_Toronto) and later earned his doctorate in medicine at the same university.<ref name="jamesking">{{cite book |last1=King |first1=James |title=Lawren Harris: Inward Journey |date=2012 |publisher=Thomas Allen Publishing |location=Toronto |page=65|url=https://librarysearch.library.utoronto.ca/discovery/search?query=any,contains,King,%20James%20(2012).%20Lawren%20Harris:%20Inward%20Journey.&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=UTL&vid=01UTORONTO_INST:UTORONTO&offset=0 |access-date=2021-05-01}}</ref> After further training in London and Berlin, he became a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Toronto in 1903.<ref name="utoronto" /> He was affiliated with the [Toronto General Hospital](/source/Toronto_General_Hospital) and [Hospital for Sick Children](/source/Hospital_for_Sick_Children_(Toronto)).<ref name="jamesking" /> He was also an influential member of the [Medical Council of Canada](/source/Medical_Council_of_Canada) and the [College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario](/source/College_of_Physicians_and_Surgeons_of_Ontario).<ref name="jamesking" />

In 1911, he built a cottage on an island in Go Home Bay in Georgian Bay, naming it "West Wind Island". That same year [Lawren Harris](/source/Lawren_Harris) was staying nearby with Dr. David E. Stanton Wishart, also a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto.<ref name="jamesking" /> He would soon meet many of Harris' artist friends, purchasing works from them and inviting them to this cottage to paint. Several took him up on the offer and completed major work at Go Home Bay. This included [Tom Thomson](/source/Tom_Thomson), [J.E.H. Macdonald](/source/J.E.H._Macdonald), [Arthur Lismer](/source/Arthur_Lismer), and [A.Y. Jackson](/source/A.Y._Jackson).<ref name="King2010">{{cite book|author=Ross King|title=Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven|date=25 September 2010|publisher=McMichael Canadian Art Collection|isbn=978-1-55365-807-8|pages=2–}}</ref>

When Jackson for want of funds spoke of leaving Canada for greater opportunity, MacCallum offered to pay his expenses for a year so he could stay in Canada and paint. Thomson, always short of money, was also funded for a year by MacCallum. He also used his funds to pay for a quarter of the construction costs of the [Studio Building](/source/Studio_Building_(Toronto)) as a permanent workspace for artists in Toronto. When Tom Thomson died, it was MacCallum who paid for the memorial cairn in [Algonquin Park](/source/Algonquin_Park).<ref name="King2010" />

MacCallum became close friends with Thomson and the Group of Seven artists. While not painting himself he was a frequent presence at the Studio Building and accompanied members on expeditions north, such as a trip in 1916 with Lawren Harris and his cousin Chester, to fish with Tom Thomson<ref>{{cite web |title=Tom Thomson Catalogue Chronology |url=https://www.tomthomsoncatalogue.org/section/?id=chronology |website=www.tomthomsoncatalogue.org |publisher=Art Gallery of Ontario |access-date=2021-05-01}}</ref> and several important trips made painting the [Algoma](/source/Algoma_District%2C_Ontario) region with Harris.<ref name="King2010" />

MacCallum died in 1943 leaving his large art collection to the [National Gallery of Canada](/source/National_Gallery_of_Canada). He wished that his cottage would become a permanent setting for painters to stay, but difficulties arose and it passed to his estate from which it was purchased by [H. R. Jackman](/source/Harry_Jackman) and his wife, [Mary](/source/Mary_Coyne_Rowell).{{sfn|Landry |1990|p=25}}

The Dr. James M. MacCallum Papers are in Library and Archives, National Gallery of Canada.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
*{{cite book |last1=Reid |first1=Dennis |title=The MacCallum Bequest |date=1969 |publisher=National Gallery of Canada |location=Ottawa|url=https://search.library.utoronto.ca/search?N=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nu=p_work_normalized&Np=1&Ntt=the%20MacCallum%20bequest&Ntk=Anywhere |access-date=2020-12-20}}
*{{cite book |last1=Landry |first1=Pierre B. |title=The MacCallum Jackman Cottage Mural Paintings |date=1990 |publisher=National Gallery of Canada |location=Ottawa|url=https://search.library.utoronto.ca/details?3324412&uuid=0166c5fd-573c-4d41-b44c-ebc3c6ebf6e6 |access-date=2021-01-04}}

== External links ==

* [https://discoverarchives.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/james-metcalfe-maccallum-fonds James Metcalfe MacCallum archival papers] held at the [https://utarms.library.utoronto.ca/ University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services]
*[https://www.gallery.ca/library/ngc014.html Dr. James M. MacCallum Papers] at the [National Gallery of Canada](/source/National_Gallery_of_Canada), Ottawa, Ontario

{{Tom Thomson}}
{{Group of Seven}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacCallum, James}}
Category:1860 births
Category:1943 deaths
Category:Canadian ophthalmologists
Category:Canadian art collectors
Category:University of Toronto alumni
Category:Academic staff of the University of Toronto

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [James MacCallum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_MacCallum) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_MacCallum?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.
