The Group of Seven were a group of Canadian artists who in the early part of the 20th century revolutionized our view of the Canadian wilderness.

By popularizing the concept of an art founded on the Canadian landscape, they gave many Canadians a sense of national identity and enabled them to discover the beauty of their own country.
In 1920, J.E.H. MacDonald, Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, Franklin Carmichael, F.H. Varley and Frank Johnston officially formed the now famous group.

Tom Thomson, who is often associated with the Group of Seven, was not an official member of the Group as he died before it formed. His work, however, had great influence on the group. Emily Carr, who lived on the west coast and not a member, was in close communication with many of its members. For more information on the group of seven and their contemporaries, visit the McMichael Gallery.

A Forest Cathedral
based on: Wood Interior (1929 - 30)
by: Emily Carr (1871 - 1945)

In 1929 Lawren Harris wrote to Emily Carr:

"Your work is very individual, and so far as I know, you have the feeling of the West Coast beyond anyone - and have and will find an equivalent for it in or through paint. How about leaving the totem alone for a year or more? ... how about seeking an equivalent for it in the exotic landscape of the Island coast, making your own form and forms within the greater form ... push the forms to the limit, in volume, plasticity and precision and relationships in one unified, functioning greater form which is the picture."

Carr took this to heart. In Wood Interior, realized from studies made at Port Renfrew in 1929, pastel shades illuminate a faceted interior surrounded by swirling planes. Form and movement combine in a linear, intersecting rhythm. In a poem describing this work, written in 1929, she translated the image into words, which read, in part:

"... tangles of dense undergrowth, smothering, choking, struggling, in the distance receding plane after plane, rising, falling - warm and cold greens, gnarled stump of grey and brown ... the reality of growth and life and light ... the full pure joy of life ..."

Icebergs, Davis Strait (1930)
by: Lawren S. Harris (1885 - 1970)

This is the largest of Harris' canvasses, where two forms rise from the cold, blue water to the sky. It was said at the time of the showing of this painting that his aesthetic appreciation of human values suddenly froze as though under the spell of a magic wand, his voice ceased to speak, his heart ceased to beat, and his mountains, and his lakes, and his rocks and his trees in their cold blue, green or white garment did not seem to live anymore.

From the North Shore - Lake Superior (c. 1927)
by: Lawren S. Harris (1885 - 1970)

While critics were struck by Harris's paintings, they observed that: "the person who is not in tune with the artist's spiritual conception cannot possibly find a meaning in them". But some found in this the very strength of Harris's ingenuity. Some said that he used the earth as only the invisible end of a cloudscape - they suggested the fourth dimension as a reality. Space and time to Harris were the mother of colour and form.
When this painting was exhibited in 1928, it was described as rays of lemon yellow, streaking through three banks of clouds, gleaming on a central strip of water. Like an opening blossom, the cloud-petals spread, revealing the celestial light.

The Ochre Hills
based on: The Upper Mattawa (near Ottawa) (1924)
by: Franklin Carmichael (1890 - 1945)

When this, his largest canvas was exhibited, one critic enthused, "Carmichael is showing the best work that has ever come from his brush. his tones are quieter, and he has made a proportionate gain in delicate values." It was considered one of the best in the gallery exhibit and was said to give a sense of air and of a feeling for the subtle and evanescent moods of nature - sincere rather than sensational.

The Gnarly Tree of Life
based on: Pine Tree and Rocks (1921)
by: Arthur Lismer (1885 - 1969)

While Tom Thompson developed the symbolic image of the single tree and A.Y. Jackson became identified with the villages of the lower St. Lawrence, Georgian Bay was Arthur Lismer's territory. Many of his most important canvases depicted its rocks and bays. "Pine Tree and Rocks" was painted from a study of an old characteristic pine in the Georgian Bay area.

Isles of Spruce, Algoma (1922)
by: Arthur Lismer (1885 - 1969)

This painting most likely dominated the 1922 exhibition. It was said that out of all of the contributions of individual artists at the time, Lismer reveled in the jazzy effects of water and cloud and sky and twisted leaves. This painting is of "an island of spruce in a lake whose gleam ... is a bit of water illusion. Close up you see nothing but smudge; in perspective a marvelous sheen of still water..."

The Jack Pine (1917)
by: Tom Thompson (1877 - 1917)

This is one of Thompson's last and best known canvasses, although it represents almost exactly the same scene as "The West Wind". This is a painting conveying perfect serenity; the calm lake and sky of the northern evening.

Reflections on the West Wind
based on: The West Wind (1917)
by: Tom Thompson (1877 - 1917)

The West Wind is a familiar favourite and stands as one of the symbols of Canadian art. Thompson's trademark lone pine in the forest combines all the elements of sky, land and water and is filled with restless movement.