Who are These Guys??
The Group of Seven, once known as the Algonquin School, was a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933.
These artists were committed to exploring, through art, the unique character of the Canadian landscape. Collectively they agreed: Canada’s rugged wilderness regions needed to be recorded in a distinctive painting style. This style would break from European tradition and reflect an increasingly nationalistic sentiment and initiated the first major Canadian national art movement.
The group originally consisted of Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J. E. H. MacDonald, and Frederick Varley. Two artists commonly associated with the group are Tom Thomson and Emily Carr. 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. Emily Carr was also associated with the Group of Seven, though never an official member. Today, these men are among Canada’s most famous artists. For many, their works have come to symbolize what is the distinctly Canadian identity. Being that they often painted along the North Shore of Lake Superior, their landscapes look very similar to what we see in our area.
Original works by these artists can be seen at the Art Gallery of Algoma
10 East Street, Sault Ste. Marie, ON.
Visit: https://www.artgalleryofalgoma.com/
The largest collection of paintings by the Group of Seven is in The McMichael Canadian Art Collection, which is located in the Village of Kleinburg, approximately a 30 minute drive from the city of Toronto.
