Anne Mirvish

Anne Mirvish

Anne Mirvish (1920-2013) - Artist Biography

Born Anne Macklin in Hamilton in 1920, Mirvish was considered a special talent in the arts world in her younger years, exhibiting sculptures in many Toronto galleries and adopting her mother's maiden name, Lazare, when signing her artwork.

In late 1939, Anne met Edwin Mirvish, who was then working a number of jobs in Toronto, including as a retail buyer. According to her husband's 1993 memoir How to Build an Empire on an Orange Crate (Or 121 Lessons I Never Learned in School), their courtship initially unfolded largely over mail. The two married in 1941 and David, their only child, was born in 1944.

Though her husband was the public face of the family's retail empire, Anne was an integral part of its early success. Their first store was partly funded by an insurance policy of Anne's that the couple cashed in for $212. Opened in 1941 with a sign designed by Anne, Sport Bar, which sold women's sportswear, changed its named in 1944 to Anne & Eddie's. As it expanded, taking over the storefronts of adjacent businesses at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor streets, it became known in 1948 as Honest Ed's.

And it was Anne – who always had a passion for the arts – who prodded her husband in 1963 to take a chance with the store's profits and purchase the Royal Alex, then a fading jewel of King Street facing the wrecking ball, for $215,000. Her enthusiasm for the visual arts also opened the eyes of David to contemporary art. His David Mirvish Gallery was an important part of the city's art scene in the sixties and seventies.

Photo: Anne Mirvish, pictured bottom right, with Phillip Gevik, Monique Letendre, Jacques Letendre (back row) and Rita Letendre (bottom left) at the opening of Rita Letendre's 2005 exhibition at Gallery Gevik, Toronto.