Group of seven - g7

DEFINITION

An association of artists questing for a distinctinve Canadian style, it was a movement that shaped the vision of how Canadians saw their own country and that left a legacy that continues to provoke debate and discussion. The Group began to form in 1913 when Lawren Harris convinced A.Y. Jackson to move to Toronto from Montreal. In that same year, Lawren Stewart Harris and J.E.H. MacDonald visited the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York to view an exhibition of Scandinavian paintings. That show was a flashpoint for the creation of the Group. In 1920, seven artists ??? Lawren Harris, J.E.H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley, Frank Johnston, Franklin Carmichael and A.Y. Jackson ??? decided, for the first time, to exhibit as the Group of Seven. The formal founding of the Group was its first exhibition, which opened at the Art Gallery of Toronto in May 1920. Tom Thomson would not live to see the birth of the Group of Seven. Yet, despite his untimely death in 1917, Thomson???s name became synonymous with the Group. His sketches and finished canvases created a painting style truly representative of the Canadian landscape and experience. Despite its name, the Group of Seven membership eventually grew to include ten artists. Frank Johnston only exhibited in one of the 1920 exhibitions before resigning from the Group. Following this, A.J. Casson joined the Group in 1926. In an effort to widen the geographical base beyond Toronto, Edwin Holgate of Montreal was asked to join in 1930. L.L. FitzGerald (of Winnipeg) joined the Group in 1932. From its birth in 1920 to the early 1930s, the Group was immensely influential. The final Group of Seven exhibition was held in 1931. Source: The McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Source: M.D. Silverbrooke, Art Historian and Collector, West Vancouver, British Columbia.