The Legacy of the Group of Seven Painters

                                                                        Nellie Lake -- AY Jackson 

Yesterday was Group of Seven Day in Ontario, the recently established acknowledgement of these artists who exhibited together for the first time more than a century ago. They were vital to establishing a Canadian sense of landscape that broke from European conventions. Most of them had day jobs as graphic artists and art teachers as well as other roles.

The criticisms today are that they painted the natural world as though Indigenous peoples didn't exist, at least for the most part. In that respect they were still colonialist in their outlook. There were no women invited into the Group of Seven (actually ten), even though they admired painters such as Emily Carr. 

I continue to love their work, in part because we have spent lots of time in Group of Seven country. We took our canoe in a boxcar up into Algoma and paddled down the Sand River to Lake Superior. We have paddled into Killarney, and Neys and Algonquin parks, sometimes climbing to the spots where these artists set up easels. When I presented to the Lands for Life roundtable in Sudbury on behalf of Friends of Killarney Provincial Park in the late 1990s I showed several Group of Seven images painted in and around the park. 

                                                         Bay of Islands -- Franklin Carmichael 

For us these were spiritual experiences and always worth the physical effort as well as some terror in the midst of thunderstorms in remote spots. We loved their impressionistic perceptions of what they were viewing and their paintings enlivened our experience.

 I don't think anyone has written extensively about the spiritual and religious sensibilities of the eclectic Group of Seven as a whole, but I may just be ignorant. Lawren Harris, the wealthy benefactor of the group, was a Theosophist and this spiritual movement increasingly informed his work as the years went by. Certainly in that era organized religion could be constraining rather than liberating when it came to Creation and Creator.

The McMichael Gallery in Kleinberg was once devoted to Group of Seven artists and several are buried on the grounds. Now there is considerable attention to women and Aboriginal artists. The gallery did recognize Group of Seven Day and here is most of their social media post:

Happy Group of Seven Day!

On May 7, 1920, a daring group of artists known as the Group of Seven unveiled their inaugural exhibition at the Art Gallery of Toronto (now the Art Gallery of Ontario) —launching a movement that would forever change the face of Canadian art. The Group—Lawren Harris, J.E.H. MacDonald, A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, F.H. Varley, Franklin Carmichael, and Frank (Franz) Johnston—were more than colleagues; they were friends, united by a shared passion to capture the spirit of the Canadian landscape. “The group of seven artists whose pictures are here exhibited have for several years held a like vision concerning Art in Canada,” wrote Lawren Harris in the original catalogue. That first exhibition sold just six works but drew more than 2,000 visitors, sparking conversation, controversy, and ultimately, a legacy. As A.Y. Jackson wrote to his mother: “It is attracting quite a lot of attention even if it is not understood.” Over time, the Group expanded, adding A.J. Casson, Edwin Holgate, and Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald—holding eight exhibitions in total and shaping a new vision for Canadian art.

Six Group of Seven grave markers -- Michael Canadian Collection