The Group of Seven was founded in 1920 as an organization of self-proclaimed modern artists. With their bright colours, tactile paint handling, and simple yet dynamic forms, the Group of Seven transfigured the Canadian Shield, the dense, northern boreal forest, and endless lakes, into a transcendent, spiritual force. In addition to Tom Thomson, Emily Carr and David Milne, the Group of Seven were the most important Canadian artists of the first decades of the twentieth century. Their influence has extended to artists as diverse as abstract painter Jack Bush and the Painters Eleven, as well as contemporary Scottish (and former Montréaler) figurative painter Peter Doig. (The Canadian Enclopedia)
Summative Assignment
After completing research on the Group of Seven and examining whether or not Canadian see landscapes differently than the rest of the world, students will have the opportunity to work with Pastels and re-create a famous Group of Seven Landscape. Most students choose to focus on Lauren Harri’s “The Old Stump – Lake Superior” for is simplistic lines and colour schemes; while others explore the more abstract and technical paintings of the group of seven in general.
Group of Seven Reproduction – “The Old Stump”
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