The Group of Seven and Tom
Thomson
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Lawren Harris
Fred Varley
A.Y. Jackson
Arthur Lismer
Frank Carmichael
J.E.H. MacDonald
Franz Johnston
A.J. Casson
Tom Thomson
They often met to discuss ideas at
the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto
The Studio Building was financed by Harris, and designed to provide northern
light to the artists’ studios. Tom Thomson, who couldn’t afford the rent, worked
in his shack nearby.
Tom Thomson
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Although Thomson died before the group
officially formed in 1920, he was part of the
circle of painters who travelled and painted
together before the First World War.
His work had an enormous effect on the
development of other members of the group.
Thomson’s love of the north country was
infectious. He led the others on camping and
canoeing expeditions in Algonquin Park, where
he worked as a guide and park ranger.
Thomson’s style is characterized by:
- the use of bold pure colours
- the use of rough, visible brushwork (impasto)
- a low vantage point in many compositions
- a screening effect created by foreground tree
branches
- lake views
- pictures composed with foreground, middle ground and
background
- subject matter from the natural world: trees, rocks,
water, sky
Tom Thomson - The Jack Pine
Tom Thomson – The West Wind
Tom Thomson – Spring Ice
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Tom Thomson
Autumn Foliage
Tom Thomson – Woodland Waterfall
Lawren Harris
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Harris was a leader in the group.
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He had more money than the others and was
able to finance the construction of the studio
building.
His style evolved toward abstraction in his later
years.
He travelled north of Lake Superior and to the
Arctic to paint.
Lawren Harris – North Shore, Lake
Superior
Lawren Harris – Miners Houses,
Glace Bay (Nova Scotia)
A.Y. Jackson
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A. Y. Jackson was from Montreal.
In his work we see scenes from rural Quebec,
as well as paintings from the Algonquin Park
and Georgian Bay areas.
A. Y. Jackson – The Red Maple
A. Y. Jackson - Barns
A. Y. Jackson – Quebec Village
J. E. H. MacDonald
MacDonald – Montreal River
MacDonald – The Solemn Land
MacDonald – The Tangled Garden
A.J. Casson
Arthur Lismer
Arthur Lismer – The White Pine
Arthur Lismer – Green Lake
Lemoine Fitzgerald
Lemoine Fitzgerald
• Lemoine Fitzgerald
• From an Upstairs
Window
Frederick Varley
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Varley was the only member of the Group of
Seven who was interested in portraiture.
Along with A.Y. Jackson, he served as a war
artist in the First World War.
F. H. Varley
• F. H. Varley
F. H. Varley
Varley - Dharana
Varley
Frank Carmichael
Carmichael – Wabajisik (The
Drowned Island)
Carmichael – In the Hilltop
Carmichael - Grace Lake