Emily Carr Boxed Notecards

Similar to the Group of Seven, Emily Carr was inspired to paint her immediate environment, which in her case was along Canada’s Pacific West Coast. Upon her return home from two years of study in France in 1912, Carr struck out from her home in Victoria, BC, to document First Nations villages and artifacts. She began to experiment stylistically, transforming her earlier depictions with a brighter palette applied with a freer, more modernist touch. Often under difficult conditions, Carr painted detailed studies on the spot.

After a long period of cultural isolation and financial woes, during which she did little painting, Carr returned to First Nations subjects after meeting members of the Group of Seven on the occasion of the National Gallery of Canada’s Exhibition of Canadian West Coast Art: Native and Modern in 1927. They encouraged her artistically and spiritually, particularly Lawren Harris. She now treated her subjects with more emotions, adopting radical compositions of tightly framed totem poles that rise up like natural elements out of their surroundings. Harris soon inspired Carr to find her own voice and go beyond Native subject matter. In the 1930s, she developed her distinctive vision of the landscapes of western Canada.