THE GROUP OF SEVEN
Author: Hortencia R.
Level: 2
Instructor: Natasha A.
Photo Credit: A. Y. Jackson (Group of Seven) - Public Domain
Article ID: 2395 [Arts- Winter 2021]
Canada is a country with people from different places around the world. It is considered a multicultural country for that. But we have to know the first people who have been here for ages are the Indigenous people. The history of Canada is very interesting, with so many things, bad and good.
The Group of Seven is one of those histories Canada has, and this needs to be told to people because it is very interesting.
The Group of Seven is a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933. When they actually formed, it was in 1919. It was at that time when they decided to organize an exhibition and to call themselves the Group of Seven. The seven founding members were: Tom Thomson, J.E.H. Macdonald, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Valey, Frank Johnston and Franklin Carmichael. They call themselves that because, Harris, one of the founders dubbed them “The Group of Seven” because they couldn’t come up with a name until he did, after the first exhibition of their paintings at the Art Gallery of Toronto. All of them were Canadians, and their mission was to show to Canadian images of remote and beautiful places although due to weather conditions, they are uninhabitable. Canada has really beautiful landscapes; cold but nice.
That’s what they did, to accomplish this mission: finding unique ways to paint images and shapes of nature. This group, brought to Canadians a new art to admire and enjoy, even if it was hard for them at that time, because that kind of painting wasn’t considered art. This helped to create a feeling of nationalism from Canadians. These paintings were special for that. They looked very deeply to be able to capture feelings and language in their paintings. The Group of Seven did over 6,000 paintings, and currently you can see some of these paintings at The Art Gallery in Toronto, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Canadian Art collection in Kleinburg, Ontario. These are some of them.
Finally, for me, this is a very good legacy and history of people that existed at that time. And it deserves to be told.