Group of Seven (artists)

Frederick Varley, A. Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris, Barker Fairley, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, and J. E. H. MacDonald. Image ca. 1920, F 1066, Archives of Ontario, I0010313.

The Group of Seven, also sometimes known as the Algonquin School, was a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933, originally consisting of Franklin Carmichael (1890–1945), Lawren Harris (1885–1970), A. Y. Jackson (1882–1974), Frank Johnston (1888–1949), Arthur Lismer (1885–1969), J. E. H. MacDonald (1873–1932), and Frederick Varley (1881–1969). Later, A. J. Casson (1898–1992) was invited to join in 1926, Edwin Holgate (1892–1977) became a member in 1930, and LeMoine FitzGerald (1890–1956) joined in 1932.

Two artists commonly associated with the group are Tom Thomson (1877–1917) and Emily Carr (1871–1945). Although he died before its official formation, Thomson had a significant influence on the group. In his essay "The Story of the Group of Seven", Harris wrote that Thomson was "a part of the movement before we pinned a label on it"; Thomson's paintings The West Wind and The Jack Pine are two of the group's most iconic pieces.[1] Emily Carr was also closely associated with the Group of Seven, though never an official member.

Believing that a distinct Canadian art could be developed through direct contact with nature,[2] the Group of Seven is best known for its paintings inspired by the Canadian landscape, and initiated the first major Canadian national art movement.[3] The Group was succeeded by the Canadian Group of Painters in 1933, which included members from the Beaver Hall Group who had a history of showing with the Group of Seven internationally.[4][5]

Collections

Large collections of work from the Group of Seven can be found at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa as well as the Ottawa Art Gallery (home to The Firestone Collection of Canadian Art) and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario. The National Gallery, under the directorship of Eric Brown, was an early institutional supporter of artists associated with the Group, purchasing art from some of their early exhibitions before they had identified themselves officially as the Group of Seven.[6] The Art Gallery of Ontario, in its earlier incarnation as the Art Gallery of Toronto, was the site of their first exhibition as the Group of Seven.[1] The McMichael gallery was founded by Robert and Signe McMichael, who began collecting paintings by the Group of Seven and their contemporaries in 1955.[7]

History

Red Maple, 1914, by A. Y. Jackson, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Tom Thomson, J. E. H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley, Frank Johnston and Franklin Carmichael met as employees of the design firm Grip Ltd. in Toronto. In 1913, they were joined by A. Y. (Alexander Young) Jackson and Lawren Harris. They often met at the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto to discuss their opinions and share their art.[1]

This group received monetary support from Harris (heir to the Massey-Harris farm machinery fortune) and Dr. James MacCallum. Harris and MacCallum jointly built the Studio Building in 1914 in the Rosedale ravine to serve as a meeting and working place for the new Canadian art movement. MacCallum owned land on Georgian Bay and Thomson worked as a guide in nearby Algonquin Park, both places where he and the other artists often travelled for inspiration.[8]

Gas Chamber at Seaford, 1918, by Frederick Varley, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa

The informal group was temporarily split up during World War I, during which Jackson[9] and Varley[10] became official war artists. Jackson enlisted in June 1915 and served in France from November 1915 to 1917, at which point he was seriously injured.[11] Harris enlisted in 1916 at taught musketry at Camp Borden.[12] He was discharged in May 1918 after suffering a nervous breakdown.[12][13] Carmichael, MacDonald, Thomson, Varley and Johnston remained in Toronto and struggled in the depressed wartime economy.[12][nb 1] A further blow to the group came in 1917 when Thomson died while canoeing in Algonquin Park. He appeared to have suffered a blow to the head and showed no signs of drowning. The circumstances of his death remain mysterious.[1]

The seven who formed the original group reunited after the war. They continued to travel throughout Ontario, especially the Muskoka and Algoma regions, sketching the landscape and developing techniques to represent it in art. In 1919, they decided to make themselves into a group devoted to a distinct Canadian form of art which didn't exist yet, and began to call themselves the Group of Seven.[8] It is unknown who specifically chose these seven men, but it is believed to have been Harris.[14] By 1920, they were ready for their first exhibition thanks to the constant support and encouragement of Eric Brown, the director of the National Gallery at that time. Prior to this, many artists believed the Canadian landscape was not worthy of being painted. Reviews for the 1920 exhibition were mixed,[15] but as the decade progressed the Group came to be recognized as pioneers of a new, Canadian, school of art.

After Frank Johnston left the group in 1920 to move to Winnipeg, A. J. Casson was invited to join in 1926.[8] Franklin Carmichael had taken a liking to him and had encouraged Casson to sketch and paint for many years beforehand.

The Jack Pine, 1916–17, by Tom Thomson, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

The Group's champions during its early years included Barker Fairley, a co-founder of Canadian Forum magazine,[16] and the warden of Hart House at the University of Toronto, J. Burgon Bickersteth.

The members of the Group began to travel elsewhere in Canada for inspiration, including British Columbia, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and the Arctic. After Samuel Gurney Cresswell and other painters on Royal Navy expeditions, these were the first artists of European descent who depicted the Arctic. Soon, the Group made the decision that to be called a "national school of painters" there should be members from outside Toronto. As a result, in 1930 Edwin Holgate from Montreal, Quebec became a member, followed by LeMoine FitzGerald from Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1932.[6]

The Group's influence was so widespread by the end of 1931, and after J. E. H. MacDonald's death in 1932, they no longer found it necessary to continue as a group of painters. They announced that the Group had been disbanded and that a new association of painters would be formed, known as the Canadian Group of Painters. The Canadian Group—which eventually consisted of the majority of Canada's leading artists—held its first exhibition in 1933, and continued to hold exhibitions almost every year as a successful society until 1967.

Legacy

In 1995, the National Gallery of Canada compiled a Group of Seven retrospective show, for which they commissioned the Canadian rock band Rheostatics to write a musical score. That score was released on album as Music Inspired by the Group of Seven.

Six members of the group, A.Y. Jackson,[17] Arthur Lismer,[18] Frederick Varley,[19] Lawren Harris,[20] Frank Johnston,[21] and A.J. Casson[22] along with four of the artists' wives are buried onsite at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in the small patch of consecrated land bordered by trees, with graves marked by large chunks of the Canadian Shield.

Contemporary painter Rae Johnson has derived much of her style from the Group of Seven.[23]

The Group of Seven has received criticism for its reinforcement of terra nullius presenting the region as pristine and untouched by humans when in fact the areas depicted have been lived in for many centuries.[24] This sentiment was expressed by Jackson, who in his 1958 autobiography wrote,

After painting in Europe where everything was mellowed by time and human associations, I found it a problem to paint a country in outward appearance pretty much as it had been when Champlain passed through its thousands of rock islands three hundred years before.[25]

Recognition

On 18 September 1970 Canada Post issued 'The Group of Seven', designed by Allan Robb Fleming and based on a painting, "Isles of Spruce" (1922), by Arthur Lismer and held in the Hart House Permanent Collection, University of Toronto. The 6¢ stamps are perforated 11, and were printed by Ashton-Potter Limited.[26]

On 29 June 1995, Canada Post issued 10 stamps, each based on a painting of a member of the group (7 original members and 3 additional members):

  • Francis Hans Johnston, Serenity, Lake of the Woods[27]
  • Arthur Lismer, A September Gale, Georgian Bay[28]
  • James Edward Hervey MacDonald, Falls, Montreal River[29]
  • Frederick Horsman Varley, Open Window[30]
  • Franklin Carmichael, October Gold[31]
  • Lawren Stewart Harris, North of Lake Superior[32]
  • Alexander Young Jackson, Evening, Les Éboulements[33]
  • Alfred Joseph Casson, Mill Houses[34]
  • Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald, Pembina Valley[35]
  • Edwin Headley Holgate, The Lumberjack[36]

On year 2012–2013, Royal Canadian Mint issued 7 pure silver 1-oz coins, collectively reproducing one painting by each member:[37]

  • F.H. Varley Stormy Weather, Georgian Bay (April 2012)[38]
  • Arthur Lismer Nova Scotia Fishing Village (July 2012)[39]
  • Franklin Carmichael Houses, Cobalt (October 2012)[40]
  • Lawren S. Harris Toronto Street, Winter Morning (January 2013)[41]
  • Franz Johnston The Guardian of the Gorge (March 2013)[42]
  • J.E.H. MacDonald Sumacs (June 2013)
  • A.Y. Jackson Saint-Tite-des-Caps (September 2013)

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ For a thorough discussion of the activity of the group during the war, refer to Mellen 1970, 70; Larisey 1993, 34-36; Reid 1971, 109-120

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Silcox, David (2003), The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson, Firefly Books, 2003, ISBN 9781552976050, retrieved 19 October 2011
  2. ↑ Housser, F. B. (1926), A Canadian Art Movement, Toronto, Ontario, p. 24
  3. ↑ Chilvers, Ian, Glaves-Smith, John, "Group of Seven", A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art, Oxford University Press, retrieved 18 October 2011
  4. ↑ Meadowcroft, Barbara (1999). Painting friends: the Beaver Hall women painters. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Véhicule Press. ISBN 1-55065-125-0.
  5. ↑ Harris, Lawren;, Murray, Joan (1993), The Best of the Group of Seven, McClelland & Stewart, 1993, ISBN 9780771066740, retrieved 19 October 2011
  6. 1 2 Varley, Christopher, "Group of Seven", The Canadian Encyclopedia, Historica Foundation, retrieved 18 October 2011
  7. ↑ "McMichael gallery co-founder dies". CBC Arts. 5 July 2007. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  8. 1 2 3 Hill, Charles C. "Group of Seven". The Oxford Companion to Canadian History. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  9. ↑ Brandon, Laura. (2008). Art and War, p. 46., p. 46, at Google Books
  10. ↑ Davis, Ann. (1992). The Logic of Ecstasy: Canadian Mystical Painting, 1920–1940, p. 30., p. 30, at Google Books
  11. ↑ Mellen, Peter (1970). The Group of Seven. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. p. 70. ISBN 978-0771058158.
  12. 1 2 3 Roza, Alexandra M. (1997). Towards a Modern Canadian Art 1910-1936: The Group of Seven, A.J.M. Smith and F.R. Scott (PDF) (Thesis). McGill University. p. 26 n. 24.
  13. ↑ Murray, Joan (2006). Rocks: Franklin Carmichael, Arthur Lismer, and the Group of Seven. Toronto: McArthur & Company. p. 52. ISBN 978-1552786161.
  14. ↑ Silcox, David P. (2003). "Introduction". The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson. Toronto, Ontario: Firefly Books Ltd. p. 17. ISBN 1-55297-605-X. Someone decided whom to invite to that historic meeting, and probably Harris, or Harris after conferring with MacDonald, was responsible.
  15. ↑ Varley, Christopher. "Group of Seven". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Foundation. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  16. ↑ Symington, Rodney. "Fairley, Barker". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Foundation. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  17. ↑ A.Y. Jackson Archived 28 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine., McMichael Canadian Art Collection
  18. ↑ Arthur Lismer Archived 12 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine., McMichael Canadian Art Collection
  19. ↑ Frederick Varley Archived 12 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine., McMichael Canadian Art Collection
  20. ↑ Lawren Harris Archived 28 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine., McMichael Canadian Art Collection
  21. ↑ Frank Johnston Archived 12 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine., McMichael Canadian Art Collection
  22. ↑ A.J. Casson Archived 25 November 2005 at the Wayback Machine., McMichael Canadian Art Collection
  23. ↑ Jules Heller; Nancy G. Heller (19 December 2013). North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-63882-5.
  24. ↑ Mitchell, Thomas W.J. (15 April 2002), Landscape and Power, University of Chicago Press, 2002, ISBN 9780226532059, retrieved 19 October 2011
  25. ↑ Jackson, A.Y. (1958). A Painter's Country. Toronto: Clarke Irwin. p. 25.
  26. ↑ "Canada Post stamp". Data4.collectionscanada.gc.ca. 18 September 1970. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  27. ↑ "Canada Post stamp". Data4.collectionscanada.ca. 29 June 1995. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  28. ↑ "Canada Post stamp". Data4.collectionscanada.ca. 29 June 1995. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  29. ↑ "Canada Post stamp". Data4.collectionscanada.ca. 29 June 1995. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  30. ↑ "Canada Post stamp". Data4.collectionscanada.ca. 29 June 1995. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  31. ↑ "Canada Post stamp". Data4.collectionscanada.ca. 29 June 1995. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  32. ↑ "Canada Post stamp". Data4.collectionscanada.ca. 29 June 1995. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  33. ↑ "Canada Post stamp". Data4.collectionscanada.ca. 29 June 1995. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  34. ↑ "Canada Post stamp". Data4.collectionscanada.ca. 29 June 1995. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  35. ↑ "Canada Post stamp". Data4.collectionscanada.ca. 29 June 1995. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  36. ↑ "Canada Post stamp". Data4.collectionscanada.ca. 29 June 1995. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  37. ↑ "Fine Silver Group of Seven 7-Coin Subscription (2012–2013)". Mint.ca. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  38. ↑ "Fine Silver Coin – Varley, Stormy Weather – Mintage: 7,000 (2012)". Mint.ca. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  39. ↑ "Fine Silver Coin – Lismer, Nova Scotia Fishing Village – Mintage: 7000 (2012)". Mint.ca. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  40. ↑ "Fine Silver Coin – Carmichael, Houses, Cobalt – Mintage: 7000 (2012)". Mint.ca. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  41. ↑ "1 oz Fine Silver Coin – Lawren S. Harris, Toronto Street Winter Morning – Mintage: 7000 (2013)". Mint.ca. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  42. ↑ "1 oz Fine Silver Coin – Franz Johnston, The Guardian of the Gorge – Mintage: 7000 (2013)". Mint.ca. Retrieved 2014-03-24.

Further reading

  • Boulet, Roger and Group of Seven and Tom Thomson (1982). The Canadian Earth. M. Bernard Loates, Cerebrus Publishing. ISBN 0920016103.
  • Cole, Douglas (Summer 1978). "Artists, Patrons and Public: An Inquiry into the Success of the Group of Seven". Revue d'études canadiennes/Journal of Canadian Studies. 13: 69–78.
  • Colgate, William (1943). Canadian Art: Its Origin and Development. Toronto: Ryerson Press.
  • Davis, Ann (1992). The Logic of Ecstasy: Canadian Mystical Painting, 1920-1940. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
  • Dawn, Leslie (2006). National Visions, National Blindness: Canadian Art and Identities in the 1920s. Vancouver: UBC Press.
  • Dejardin, Ian, ed. (2011). Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven. London: Dulwich Picture Gallery.
  • Duval, Paul (1972). Four Decades: The Canadian Group of Painters and Their Contemporaries, 1930-1970. Toronto: Clarke Irwin.
  • ——— (1978). The Tangled Garden. Toronto: Cerebrus/Prentice-Hall.
  • ——— (1980). A.J. Casson; A Tribute. M. Bernard Loates, Cerebrus Publishing. ISBN 0920892027.
  • ——— (1982). A.J. Casson; My Favourite Watercolours. M. Bernard Loates, Cerebrus Publishing. ISBN 0920016138.
  • ——— (2010). Lawren Harris, Where the Universe Sings. M. Bernard Loates, Cerebrus Publishing. ISBN 9780981129709.
  • Eisenberg, Evan (1998). The Ecology of Eden. Toronto: Random House of Canada.
  • Grace, Sherrill E. (2004). Canada and the Idea of North. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.
  • Harper, J. Russell (1966). Painting in Canada: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
  • Harris, Lawren (July 1926). "The Revelation of Art in Canada". Canadian Theosophist. 7: 85–88.
  • ——— (1929). "Creative Art and Canada". In Brooker, Bertram. Yearbook of the Arts in Canada, 1928-29. Toronto: Macmillan. pp. 177–86.
  • ——— (October 1943). "The Function of Art". Art Gallery Bulletin [Vancouver Art Gallery]. 2: 2–3.
  • ——— (1948). "The Group of Seven in Canadian History". Canadian Historical Association: Report of the Annual Meeting held at Victoria and Vancouver, 16-19 June 1948. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 28–38.
  • ——— (1964). The Story of the Group of Seven. Toronto: Rous and Mann Press.
  • Hill, Charles C. (1995). The Group of Seven: Art for a Nation. National Gallery of Canada. ISBN 0-88884-645-2.
  • Housser, F. B. (1926). A Canadian Art Movement: The Story of the Group of Seven. Toronto: Macmillan.
  • Hubbard, R.H. (1963). The Development of Canadian Art. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada.
  • Jackson, A.Y. (Summer 1957). "Box-car Days in Algoma 1919-20". Canadian Art. 14: 136–41.
  • ——— (1958). A Painter's Country. Toronto: Clarke Irwin.
  • Jessup, Lynda (Spring 2002). "The Group of Seven and the Tourist Landscape in Western Canada, or the More Things Change...". Journal of Canadian Studies. 37: 144–79.
  • King, Ross (2010). Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven. D & M Publishers. ISBN 9781553658078.
  • Larisey, Peter (1993). Light for a Cold Land. Toronto: Dundurn Press.
  • MacDonald, J. E. H. (22 March 1919). "The Canadian Spirit in Art". The Statesman. 35: 6–7.
  • ——— (December 1919). "A.C.R. 10557". The Lamps: 33–39.
  • MacDonald, Thoreau (1944). The Group of Seven. Toronto: Ryerson Press.
  • MacTavish, Newton (1925). The Fine Arts in Canada. Toronto: Macmillan.
  • Martinsen, Hanna (1984). "The Scandinavian Impact on the Group of Seven's Vision of the Canadian Landscape". Konsthistorisk Tidskrift. L111: 1–17.
  • McInns, Graham C. (1950). Canadian Art. Toronto: Macmillan.
  • Mellen, Peter (1970). The Group of Seven. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.
  • Murray, Joan; Harris, Lawren (1993), The Best of the Group of Seven, McClelland & Stewart, ISBN 0-7710-6674-0
  • O'Brian, John; White, Peter, eds. (2007). Beyond Wilderness: The Group of Seven, Canadian Identity, and Contemporary Art. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.
  • Reid, Dennis (1970). The Group of Seven. Ottawa: The National Gallery of Canada.
  • ——— (1971). A Bibliography of the Group of Seven. Ottawa: The National Gallery of Canada. pp. 109–120.
  • Robson, Albert H. (1932). Canadian Landscape Painters. Toronto: Ryerson Press.
  • Silcox, David P. (2011). The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson. Richmond Hill: Firefly Books. ISBN 9781554078851.
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