Group of Seven (art)

Frederick Varley, Alexander Jackson , Lauren Harris, Barker Fairley, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lysmer and James MacDonald . (c. 1920)

"Group of Seven" ( Eng. Group of Seven ; also "Community of Seven" , "Algonquin School" ) - a group of Canadian landscape painters, which existed from 1920 to 1933. The initial composition of the group included Franklin Carmichael (1890-1945), Lauren Harris (1885-1970), Alexander Jackson (1882-1974), Frank Johnston (1888-1949), Arthur Lysmer (1885-1969), James MacDonald (1873—19 1932) and Frederick Varley (1881-1969). In 1926 they were joined by Alfred Casson (1898-1992), in 1930 - Edwin Holgate (1892-1977), in 1932 - Lemoine Fitzgerald.

The group is often associated with Tom Thomson (1877-1917) and Emily Carr (1871-1945). Thomson, who died before the formation of the group, had a noticeable effect on it. In the Harris essay, The Story of the Group of Seven Thomson is called "part of the movement before it takes its name." The works of Thomson's The West Wind and The Jack Pine are reckoned among the cult works of the group ^[1] . Emily Carr is also considered one of the community members, however, she has never officially been in the group.

The group members believed that the original Canadian painting may appear in direct contact with nature ^[2] . The most famous works of artists were paintings created under the inspiration of Canadian landscapes. With these works began the history of national Canadian painting ^[3] . The ideological continuation of the group was the Canadian Group of Painters, formed in 1933 from members of the Beaver Hall group , which had a long history of collaborating with the Group of seven exhibitions in the international art arena ^{[4] [5]} .