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Mary Dignam (1860-1938) was a Canadian painter
best remembered as a pioneer activist for women
artists.


Born Mary Ella Williams in Port Burwell, Ontario,
Canada, she studied art at the Western School of
Art and Design in London, Ontario. In 1886 she
went to New York City to further her training at
the Art Students League followed by time in Paris,
France at the artist's workshop run by Raphaël
Collin (1850-1916) and Luc Olivier-Merson
(1846-1920). 

Her paintings were primarily in floral and
landscape subjects and were eventually exhibited
in Canada and abroad. However, she was a tireless
worker for female artists who was a founding
member and the first President of the Toronto
based Women's Art Association of Canada (WAAC).
She also helped establish the International
Society of  Women Painters and Sculptors with
branches in London, Paris, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania  and Melbourne, Australia. In 1900,
she helped organize the first all-female,
international art exhibition at the Grafton
Gallery in London.

Dignam was hired by McMaster University|Moulton
College in Toronto to establish and head up their
art department. 

Mary Dignam died in 1938 at the age of 78 in
Toronto, Ontario.