Northern Lights: Masterpieces of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven

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.

It is startling to recall that paintings by Tom Thomson, A.Y. Jackson,
Franz Johnston, Lawren Harris, Franklin Carmichael, J.E.H. MacDonald,
Arthur Lismer, and F.H. Varley were not initially welcomed by the
Canadian public but were labelled crude and garish.

Contemporary art critic, curator, and gallery director Joan Murray has
chosen 125 works from both public and private collections to commemorate
the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Group. She traces their
development from 1920 (the year of the Group’s first exhibit) to 1933,
exploring what drew them together and examining the processes through
which they developed their images.

Northern Lights is a magnificent production, a feast for eye and mind.
It reminds Canadians of our basic bond with a northern land, which can
be both harsh and tender. Something of the same pioneering spirit that
opened our West drove these painters to break with European landscape
techniques and to celebrate their own visions. Murray’s introduction
catches this spirit. She also comments individually on each work, and
frequently sets a sketch done in the field opposite the finished studio
version. Changes in color and composition are instructive and
fascinating. Painting by painting, Murray provides historical and
technical data along with her own insights into the work.

Northern Lights is a worthy tribute to a group of major artists and
their associates, and to the land and people that inspired their
paintings.