The Group of Seven: Art for a Nation

October 3 to December 1, 1996

Fall is without doubt one of the most beautiful seasons in Canada, when nature adorns herself with sumptuous colours as a prelude to the cloak of white she will wear for several months. The exhibition The Group of Seven: Art for a Nation , which was on view in the Benaiah Gibb Pavilion from October 3 to December 1, 1996, was a celebration of the Canadian landscape. Organized by the National Gallery of Canada, this exhibition celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Group of Seven's first show, which was held in May 1920 at the Art Gallery of Toronto.

Franklin Carmichael, Frank Johnston, Lawren S. Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley and J.E.H. MacDonald, the Group of Seven's founding members, made a major contribution to the development of Canadian art. They believed that the Canadian environment had a determining influence on the Canadian character and that artists must probe the landscape to understand the Canadian psyche and to create an art that would reflect both. Exploring the vastness of the country, from Île aux Coudres to the Rocky Mountains, and from Lake Superior to the Far North, the artists depicted its mountains, rivers, lakes and forests in all seasons. Although landscape was their favourite subject, they also painted towns and villages.

To free Canadian art from the Academicism then in vogue and to develop a new figurative language, the artists simplified shapes and used vivid colours. However, the public's response to the Group of Seven was cool, and art critics branded their works "shrill scribbling" and "blobs of unpleasant colours".

The exhibition The Group of Seven: Art for a Nation was the first retrospective devoted to these artists since 1970. It featured 180 paintings, drawings and watercolours and focussed on the Group's various exhibitions held from the time of its founding in 1920 to 1931, two years before its dissolution. The works, which were presented in each of these shows, were hung alongside paintings by non-member artists who were invited to exhibit with the Group. This original approach gave visitors the opportunity to compare the evolution of the works of the Group with those created by their contemporaries and friends like Emily Carr and Edwin Holgate. The exhibition brought together works from sixty-four public and private collections, some of which had not been exhibited since the 1920s. A large section was devoted to the debates that surrounded the Group and its efforts to promote contemporary Canadian art during the 1920s through the presentation of exhibitions in Canada and the United States. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts was particularly pleased to host this show on the Group of Seven, for the last time their works were presented here was in 1930.

The exhibition The Group of Seven: Art for a Nation was organized and circulated by the National Gallery of Canada. The tour to Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal was made possible through the support of Chubb Insurance Company of Canada. Rosalind Pepall, Curator of Canadian Art at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, was in charge of the Montreal presentation of the exhibition, which benefited from the support of Pratt & Whitney Canada.