The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson: An Introduction

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, Japan Foundation Fellow 1991-92, and the author of
Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Home and As Though Life Mattered:
Leo Kennedy’s Story.

This excellent introduction to the most famous of Canadian painters has
some 30 high-quality color reproductions and a lively text aimed at
young adults. Anne Newlands has a master’s degree in art history and
has worked as an art museum educator for 15 years at the National
Gallery of Canada.

While the bulk of the text treats the artists individually, there are
also sections on friendships and cross-influences, and some fine general
essays such as “Turn-of-the-Century Toronto” and “Who Were the
Group of Seven?” Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson,
Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald, and F.H. (Fred) Varley were joined by
A.J. Casson in 1926, after Frank Johnston dropped out. The group came
together in the second decade of this century and held its first group
show in 1920, only to be met with mockery and critical dismay.

A good cross-section of the work appears, including Tom Thomson’s
Spring Ice and The Jack Pine, MacDonald’s The Tangled Garden, and
several of Harris’s stylized scenes from his late spiritual or
metaphysical period, as well as many lesser-known works.

Much of the author’s commentary is historical and biographical, but
her personal and critical insights into what makes a successful painting
are likely to interest even a sophisticated viewer. Highly recommended
for home and high-school libraries.