Canadian Group of Seven: Pioneers of Art

1. Group of Seven

2. F.H. Varley • In 1912 he immigrated to Canada, took a job in commercial art and met the individuals with whom he would later join together under the name "The Group of Seven". Varley "disapproved of extreme forms of abstraction as untrue to nature. Hence his criticism of Picasso for 'tearing the world apart.'" Although Varley regularly shared his opinion that the foundation for art rested in "the human", he is still widely recognized for his landscapes. Georgian Bay

3. Lauren Harris • He took up painting at an early age and studied in Germany from 1904 to 1907. He worked briefly with Norman Duncan, illustrating several of Duncan's stories, but Harris was in fact the only member of the Group of Seven who was free all his life from monetary pressures and temptations of commercial art and advertising designs. Harris is also the only member of the Group who kept pushing his painting, never resting for long with one style or one species of subject matter. Long after the Group disbanded, Harris continued to grow and change as a painter, moving eventually into art deco and pure abstraction. Toronto Street Winter Morning

4. Arthur Lismer • He immigrated to Canada seeking work as a commercial illustrator. It was at the Grip Engraving Company in Toronto that he met a group of other talented young artists and formed the Group of Seven. Together, they organized trips to explore and sketch the wilderness - capturing the spirit of Canada in their work, and setting Canadian art on a bold and original new course. Lily Pond Georgian Bay

5. A.Y. Jackson • Like other members of the Group of Seven he was trained as a Commercial Artist and for many years made his living by that means. He apprenticed to a Montreal lithographer at the age of 12, and though he later spent two and a half years in France studying painting, he was soon back in Canada paying his rent by designing cigar labels. Wilderness Deese Bay 1947

6. J.E.H. MacDonald • A founding member of the Group of Seven, J.E.H. MacDonald challenged and vastly broadened the scope of Canadian Art. MacDonald believed that art should express the "mood and character and spirit of the country", and he portrayed his vision in vast panoramas using dark, rich colours and a turbulent patterned style. Lake O'Hara Rocky Mountains

7. Frank Johnston • He painted very much differently than the others. He chose close-up views that often seemed crowded. Other works showed more simple landscapes, with subtleties like clouds reflecting on water. Also he was the one of Canadian who is the First one artist in World War 1. Camp Borden

8. Frank Carmichael • He arrived in Toronto in 1911 with some training in commercial art, and soon found himself the associate of Tom Thomson and a number of other commercial artists who were teaching themselves to be serious painters. In 1913 he went to Paris to study painting but was soon back in Ontario to participate in the founding of the Group of Seven. Autumn In the Northland