The Group of Seven Boxed Notecards

Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley, and A. Y. Jackson were all members of the Group of Seven, founded in 1920. Group members wanted their paintings to express their feelings for their subjects and to prove that Canadian art could find sufficient sustenance in Canada alone, which they accomplished by painting Canadian landscapes with a technique characterized by heavy impasto, bold colors, simplified forms, and surface patterning. Lawren Harris’s landscapes of Algoma, Lake Superior, the Rockies, and the Arctic have become recognized icons of Canadian art. By the mid-1920s he reduced the shapes of mountains, lakes, trees, and clouds to their essential forms, reflecting a profound spirituality. Even though Arthur Lismer traveled and sketched across Canada, Georgian Bay imagery is at the core of his subject matter. He became equally well known as an art educator in Toronto in the 1920s and 1930s and in Montreal from the 1940s to 1960s. While Frederick Varley did share the Group’s enthusiasm for landscapes, he preferred to paint portraits in luminescent colors. For many years, Varley taught and painted in British Columbia. A. Y. Jackson’s landscapes are characterized by his curvaceous forms and earthy tones.