1
Q
Background 19th century / Beginning of the 20th century
A
- By the end of the 19th century, Canada had become an industrialized nation
- three largest cities montreal, toronto, winnipeg
- 1880-1990 many immigrants European/Italian/Russian
- people also moved from the farms to cities to find jobs
2
Q
Part 2
A
- resulted in a class divided society with immigrants and workers staying in the inner cities (slums) and the wealthy moved to the suburbs.
- a class divided society is created, a social & geographical divide
- there was little consensus among the population on what it meant to be a canadian
- no distinctive Canadian flag, no official national symbols, a growing cultural diversity.
3
Q
Tom Thomson & The Group of 7.
A
- Tom Thomson and the group of seven established the leadership of canadian subject matter for Canadians.
- developed the Canadian visual language
- invented a distinctively canadian visual language that would enable them to find the essence of canada
- focused their art on Canadian subject matter.
- Tom Thomson & The Group of seven came at the right time searching for a national symbol
4
Q
Tom Thomson
A
- 1904 he worked for a variety of photo engraving companies including Grip limited where he met the future members of the Group of Seven.
- not a member of the group of 7 but influenced by them.
- Thomson did not study in Europe
- liked sketching & painting outdoors - Algonquin park
5
Q
Thomson 3
A
- Thomson began to paint in 1911
- a year later he visited Alongquin park for the first time and made his first long canoe trip in northwestern Ontario.
- inspired the group members during the formative years before the creation of the group in 1920
- he learned sketching in Alongquin park from March to December then painting his canvases in his toronto studio shack.
- passionate about his subjects he was the model artist of the new movement.
6
Q
Tom Thomson 2
A
- worked in the graphic arts industry in Seattle and Toronto and was the only one who was largely self taught as a painter.
- the name of the group did not originate until after his death tom thomson was vital to the movement, and as much part of its formation and development as any other member.
7
Q
A
TOM THOMSON, A NORTHERN LAKE, 1913
- more delicacy/ sense of composition
- shows the group influenced him
- given us a heightened sense of colour
-
8
Q
Thomson 4
A
- Tom Thomson was rejected by the army because of a medical condition
- in 1915 he took up residence at canoe lake in algonquin park and alternated his time between algonquin and toronto
- died in 1917 paddled off canoe
- Attracted to Alongquin Park by thomson’s tales and paintings Jackson Macdonald Lismer and Varley all painted there in 1914.
9
Q
A
TOM THOMSON, NORTHERN RIVER, 1914-15
result of Alongquin park trip
10
Q
A
TOM THOMSON, CANOE AND LAKE, ALGONQUIN PARK, 1915
11
Q
A
Tom Thomson - Autumn Foliage 1916
Gestural brushwork
Roughness in approach
Spontaneity
Thick stabs of brushwork
Short thick strokes of pure colour
12
Q
Group of Seven Artists to 1917
A
•J.E.H. MACDONALD (1873-1932), LAWREN HARRIS (1885-1970), FRANKLIN CARMICHAEL (1890-1945), FREDERICK VARLEY (1881-1969), A.Y. JACKSON (1882-1972), FRANK JOHNSTON (1888-1949), ARTHUR LISMER (1885-1969)
- Janurary 1913 - Harris & Macdonald travel to Buffalo, BY to see an exhibition of contemporary scandinavian landscape painting and to see how these artists depicted their countries.
- Macdonald said “this is what we wanted to do with Canada”
13
Q
Group of seven
A
- All had formal training and a good knowledge of Impressionism and certain manifestations of post impressionism as it was transmitted through french british and scandanavian and american painting.
- group established in the spring of 1920.
- remnants of art nouveau design and flat patterning characteristic of commercial arts are evident in a number of their early paintings, they were also inspired by the northern landscapes of the Scanadavian painters seen by Macdonald and Harris.
14
Q
Group of 7
A
- The raw austerity of the landscape evoked an image of a Canadian “North” a repeated motif in earlier formulations of Canadian identity that now found its expression in the rocks and lakes burnt land and trees and colour and light of Algonquin park.
- The Artists’ painting practice was traditional,
- Despire its shared goals, the group consisted of artists of differing personalities, styles, and ideals and this was evident in each work produced.
15
Q
Group of seven 2
A
- The artists set out to identify elements based in history, folk culture, or topography that were unique to their own country, and that could feed a developing sense of identity.
- The artists goals first articulated on the eve of WWI.
- The artists’ argued that the English-Canadian elite its politicians industrialists and intellectual leaders existed in a mid-Atlantic trough living physically in Canada but taking all their intellctual and cultural nourishment from Great Britain and Europe.
16
Q
A.Y. Jackson
A
- 1913 - A.Y. Jackson is invited by Macdonald to come to toronto from montreal.
- he paints terre sauvage/savage land, it became the touchstone of the new movement.
- discovered by MacDonald who felt what Jackson did with his art was beneficial to what the other members wanted to do
- most experience of modern French painting, taking his inspiration from Tom Thomson.
17
Q
Jackson 2
A
- spent considerable time studying and painting in France between 1907 and 1913.
- only Montrealer in the group thus played a key role in forging links between the artists of the two cities.
-
18
Q
A
A.Y. JACKSON, TERRE SAUVAGE (ORIGINAL TITLE: THE NORTH COUNTRY; RENAMED 1920), 1913, 128.8 x 154.4 cm. (NGC) (FIGURE 3.2)
- reflected the change in the perception of the landscape in the intervening years, no longer a symbol of the North, the sparse trees and bare rocks captured in 1920 a primitive environment that the artists equated with a evolving Canadian identity.
19
Q
Thomson & Jackson
A
- shared studio space with tom thomson
- Jackson & Thomson spend a year travelling and sketching ,
Jackson puts savage land “North country was the original title” sketched on wood panels
- different from Thomsons painting - no focus,
1914 - 1st sketching trip to Algonquin park - maple - the red takes your eyes around the photo it’s the focus.
20
Q
A
A.Y. JACKSON, THE RED MAPLE, 1914
21
Q
J.E.H. Macdonald 1873 - 1932
A
- worked in the graphic art industry in Toronto and London England.
- his designs influenced by the art and theories of william morris show a sophisticated knowledge of the art nouveau design that was so prevalent in Europe and north America at the time.
- oldest member, whose roots lay in late 19th century rural Ontario linked earlier ideals of nationalism and Canadian identity wiah a poetic spirit inspired by the writings of Walt Whitman and Henry David thoreau.
22
Q
A
J.E.H. MACDONALD, THE WILD RIVER, 1919
23
Q
A
J.E.H. MACDONALD, THE SOLEMN LAND, (ALGOMA) 1921, 122.5 X 153.5 cm (NGC)
24
Q
Lawren Harris (1885- 1970)
A
- studied in Germany from 1904 - 1908
- never worked in commercial art
- most intellectual and inspired the group to explore new directions.
- only one of the seven to repeatedly depict urban subjects.
- great idealist and active student of Theosophy from 1917 and believed that the artist had to speak of human justice and clarify the greater nation.
25
LAWREN HARRIS, LAKE SUPERIOR, 1924
26
Arthur Lismer (1885 - 1969)
- studied in Sheffield, England and Antwerp, Belgium.
- training had been filled with a late arts and crafts philosophy that found expression in Lismer's art education work with children and in his campaign for the engagement of art with daily life.
27
ARTHUR LISMER, SEPTEMBER GALE, GEORGIAN BAY, 1921
28
Frederick Varley 1881 - 1969
- studied in Sheffield, England and Antwerp, Belgium.
- loner in the group, a late bloomer and a figure painter whose more romantic interpretations of the landscape found fulfillment in British Columbia in the late 1920s and 1930s.
- the war launched Varley's career
29
FREDERICK VARLEY, STORMY WEATHER GEORGIAN BAY, 1921 (NGC.) COMPARE WITH THOMSON’S WEST WIND
30
TOM THOMSON.
WEST WIND, 1917
120.7 cm. x 137.2 cm. (Art Gallery of Ontario)
31
Franklin Carmichael 1890 - 1945
- studied in Antwerp in 1913 - 1914
- youngest member
- worked in commercial art throughout the period of his involvement with the group and painted only in ontario.
- his senstive watercolours have a quality of design and a reserved use of colour that is reflective of all his work.
32
Franklin Carmichael Octobers Gold 1922
33
Frank Johnston 1888 - 1949
- studied in Toronto and Philadelphia
- invited due to his friendship with Macdonald and the group artists during the formative years of the movement, but his preference for literary and romantic themes separated him from the others.
34
Fire Swept Algoma 1920
35
WORLD WAR I (1914-1918)
- June 1914, the austrian archduke and his wife were assisinated in sarajevo, Bosnia by a serbian nationalist.
- because of complicated european alliances, austria-hungary, Germany went to war againt Russia, France and Great Britain.
- When Britain declared war on Germany, Canada as part of the British commonwealth was automatically at war.
- the artists disperse when war breaks out
36
Victory Bond Poster
- young Canadian men rushed to recruitments when Germany went to war
- men read a lot of books
- was was portrayed as a christian crusade ,
- it was duty to fight the Germans/ crusade against evil so the posters formed in Canada were in recruiting officers
37
WWI 2
- resources were directed to the war effort and the artists were laid off.
- 1917 Lord Beaverbook establsihed the Canadian War Memorials Fund (CMWF)
- this project engaged artists at first British and later Canadian to visually document Canada's contributions to the war effort initially in England and Europe and subsequently in Canada.
- Jackson was one of the first Canadian artists engaged by the CWMF.
38
WWI 3
- Varley produced the most emotionally charged paintings of any of the Canadians and the only ones that questioned the war's purpose.
- Jackson realized a body of work that eanged from peaceful landscapes sketched behind the front to stark images of the devastated war zone.
- In Canada, Lismer was chosen to document war activity in Halifax harbour and the arrival of soldiers returning from abroad after Armstice Day.
39
FREDERICK VARLEY, FOR WHAT? 1916 (Canadian War Museum, Public Domain)
• VARLEY, A FUTURE MEMBER OF THE GROUP OF SEVEN, AND AN OFFICIAL WAR ARTIST, ACCOMPANIED THE CANADIAN TROOPS. HIS PAINTINGS ARE BASED ON HIS OWN EXPERIENCES AT THE FRONT.
40
WWI & Art
- the CWMF London exhibition of its european war paintings brought praise for the Canadian experimentalists.
- In London, only the English and French painting subjects were shown.
- A seperate exhibition was held in Toronto, where European and Canadian paintings were shown.
- The Caandian and British paintings alike stimulated debates about modern art as well as pride in Canada's contributions to the final victory.
41
After the war
- The War had a significant impact on Canadian society.
- women got the vote in federal elections in 1918.
- by the end of the war canadians had acquired a sense of pride and a new Canadian nationalism.
- this nationalism found fertile ground in the paintings of the group of seven.
- they made the spirit of the north a touchstone of canadan nationalism. "true north strong & free"
42
After the War II
- All members of the group came under the influence of theosophy
- all ahd profound ideas about the spiritual dimensions of human life
- were looking for a deeper meaning of nature that conveyed the spirit of a subject.
- promoted Eastern religions/ idea of universal /brotherhood
• THE SOCIETY PROMOTED EASTERN RELIGIONS, A UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD, AND THE RELEASE OF THE LATENT POTENTIAL IN HUMAN ENERGY
