The Group’s legacy is their art, their ambition, and the opportunities they created for other artists across the country. They have inspired generations of artists who have both celebrated and responded critically to the Group’s mythic vision of Canada. The AGO highlights their enduring spirit through research, collection building, publishing, and exhibitions.
ABOUT THE GROUP OF SEVEN
In the early 1910s, Ontario artists Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Franz Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J. E. H. MacDonald, and F.H. Varley began painting, both alone and together, in the rural outskirts of Toronto. Over time, they headed north to paint Algonquin Park, the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation's unceded territory and Ontario’s first provincial park, and to the Algoma region on the north shore of Lake Superior, territory of the Anishinaabe, addressed by both the Robinson-Superior Treaty (1850) and the Robinson-Huron Treaty (1850).
Breaking from the traditional Academic painting styles of the time, their shared ambition was to pursue a more expressive, experimental art—one that was distinctly Canadian. Their romanticized renderings of nature rarely include imagery of humans. In their quest for authentic and spiritual experiences within nature, they positioned Canada as an unspoiled, uninhabited country despite the presence Indigenous communities and industry throughout the regions they visited.
Interrupted by the first World War and personal tragedies, it was not until 1920 that these artists came together in Toronto to exhibit their work under the name Group of Seven. The Group remained active throughout the 1920’s exhibiting across Canada and internationally. The Group evolved and officially disbanded in 1933, but their ambition and the beauty of their work has made them enduring symbols of Canada.
Arthur Goss, Luncheon at the Arts and Letters Club, Toronto. (A.Y. Jackson, F. Varley, L. Harris, Barker Fairley, F. Johnston, A. Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald), c.1920. gelatin silver print, Overall: 9 x 12.2 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario. Transferred from the E.P. Taylor Research Library and Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1996. 96/59
TOM THOMSON, INSPIRATION TO THE GROUP
An artist often tied to the Group of Seven, Tom Thomson was friend, colleague, and artistic inspiration to many of the Group. Born in Claremont, Ontario, in 1877, he was a keen woodsman. After working as a commercial artist in Seattle and Toronto, from 1913–17, Thomson spent most of his time in Algonquin Park, creating vivid oil sketches.
Tom Thomson. The West Wind, Winter 1916-1917. oil on canvas, Unframed: 120.7 × 137.9 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario. Gift of the Canadian Club of Toronto, 1926. © Art Gallery of Ontario. 784
Thomson’s skill as a designer permeated his paintings, and his naturalistic treatment of the landscape comes alive through an expressive use of colour, and freer forms. His remarkable career was cut short in 1917 when he drowned in Algonquin Park, three years before the Group’s first exhibition. While he never received any significant recognition during his lifetime, his major canvases, including the AGO’s own The West Wind (1916–1917) and luminous oil sketches, entered public collections shortly after his death. His work, and the many myths surrounding his death, have made him a Canadian icon.
