Canadian Character

I start today with this view near where I left off yesterday. The display case in the foreground features First Nations artifacts. In the background are three Tom Thomson paintings. At left, Burnt Land is a 1915 oil depicting the aftermath of a fire. Northern River is in the centre, and was done in 1914-15. The Jack Pine is one of his masterpieces, and it is at right. Finished in the year of his death, it depicts a tree at Grand Lake in Algonquin Park.

Carrying on with the Group of Seven's presence in this Gallery, here we have another Lawren Harris. Maligne Lake, Jasper Park is a 1924 oil painting showing the lake in the national park in Alberta.

Emily Carr was associated with the Group of Seven, and throughout her career as an artist was drawn to the totem poles and landscapes familiar to the Pacific Coast First Nations. British Columbia Landscape is the title of this painting circa 1934.

The Welcome Men is a 1913 oil painting by Carr, showing a potlatch figure at the village of 'Mimkwamlis near Alert Bay against a sunset.

Like the Group of Seven, the Beaver Hall Group was a set of artists who exhibited together. Based out of Quebec, they exhibited for a briefer time- 1920-23, and had no single unified style. Unlike the Group of Seven, the Beaver Hall Group also consisted of a roughly equivalent number of men and women. One of their number, Regina Seiden Goldberg, painted Nudes circa 1925.

Another member of the group was Prudence Heward, who was not as prolific an artist as others due to health issues, but is noted for her strong portraits of women. Girl In Yellow Sweater is a 1936 oil painting that certainly fits her motif.

Moving on, we have this painting by Carl Schaefer, who had studied with a couple of members of the Group of Seven. Summer Harvest, Hanover is a 1935 oil painting showing a landscape in southwestern Ontario. Incidentally, my grandparents had a farm in this area for years.

Charles F. Comfort painted a different kind of landscape. Tadoussac is a 1935 oil painting capturing a harbour view. Years later Comfort would serve as the director of the National Gallery, from 1959-65.

For something quite different, we turn to one I've shown you before. Alberta Blues is a 1966 oil painting by Alex Janvier, the Dene artist whose Morning Star is over at the Canadian Museum of History. Janvier's First Nations roots mix with abstract influences in a dazzling way. He had a major retrospective of his works here at the Gallery in 2017, and is still active today, with a studio bearing his name out in Cold Lake. I don't often go for abstract art, but Janvier's style tremendously appeals to me.

I came back out into the grand hall, where I photographed the view before heading up to the world art galleries. We'll start looking at that tomorrow.