MAGNETIC NORTH – EXHIBITION DIGITORIAL

Intro

Magnetic North An Exhibition imagining Canada in painting 1910–1940 5 FEB–16 MAY 2021

Lawren Harris, Mount Lefroy, 1930

Magnificent outdoor adventures, remote cabins in the woods and the magic of the Northern Lights against white glaciers are just a few of the romantic notions globally associated with “Canada”. We suddenly find ourselves longing for an idyllic life as a lone adventurer of the kind we see in films and literature.

These romantic ideas are by no means an invention of our time: In the early 20th century Canadian artists travelled from the cities out into nature. They were on the hunt for a new pictorial language to shape the cultural identity for a still burgeoning nation, which had to gain self-governance in 1867 with the confederation of four provinces. In visual terms, these paintings and sketches embody the dream of an untouched world. They depict the idyll of an awesome landscape and at the time hovered beyond the reality of modern city life and the expanding industrial utilization of nature. Not least, this landscape was home to the Indigenous population.

Lawren Harris, Lake and Mountains, 1928

Moder­nism as na­tional art: the Group of Seven

In May 1920, the artists and friends Lawren Harris, J.E.H. MacDonald, A.Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, Franklin Carmichael and A.J. Casson officially founded the “Group of Seven” association. They had already shared several excursions for some years – setting out to explore the countryside to the north of Ontario, which they had captured in atmospheric paintings. The Group of Seven, along with other artists from their circles such as Emily Carr, Tom Thomson and Mary E. Wrinch, shared not only a preference for landscape painting but also the goal of establishing a uniquely Canadian tradition in painting. Unlike the European avant-garde, they thus wanted to make an original contribution to Modernism, which was developing internationally. Alongside their artistic ideas, they shared the desire to express a sense of belonging to the still far from independent nation of Canada and ideally to invoke it in the observer. Art was to be a tool for dissemination, formation and consolidation.

"The thought of today cannot be expressed by the language of yesterday."

Group of Seven, 1922
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SOURCES AND PICTURE CREDITS

QUOTATIONS

Group of Seven: “The thought of today […]”, quoted from: Group of Seven, 1922 exhibition publication, n.p.

A. Y. Jackson: “The great purpose of landscape is […]”, quoted from: Dennis Reid, The Group of Seven, exh. cat. The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa and Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal (Ottawa: NGC, 1970), p. 132.

Caroline Monnet: “Land and territory are everything. […]”, quoted from: Martina Weinhart (ed.), Magnetic North. Imagining Canada in Painting 1910–1940, exh. cat. Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt and Kunsthal Rotterdam (München et al.: Prestel, 2021), p. 119.

Jeff Thomas: “At the dawn of the twentieth century, it was widely believed […]”, quoted from: Martina Weinhart (ed.), Magnetic North. Imagining Canada in Painting 1910–1940, exh. cat. Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt and Kunsthal Rotterdam (München et al.: Prestel, 2021), p. 99.

A. Y. Jackson: “The box car is very cosy […]“, quoted from: Charles C. Hill, The Group of Seven: Art for a Nation, exh. cat. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, et al. (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1995), p. 80.

Emily Carr: “It’s a horrible sight […]” quoted from: Emily Carr, Hundreds and Thousands: The Journals of Emily Carr (Toronto: Clarke, Irwin & Company, 1966), p. 132-133.

ILLUSTRATIONS

In spite of our best efforts, it has not always been possible to discover the owners of the rights to the pictures. Any justified claims in this regard will of course be recompensed under the usual agreements.

Lawren Harris Mt. Lefroy, 1930 Oil on canvas 133,5 × 153,5 cm McMichael Canadian Art Collection, purchased in 1975 © McMichael Canadian Art Collection © Family of Lawren S. Harris.

Lawren Harris Lake and Mountains, 1928 Oil on canvas 130,8 × 160,7 cm Art Gallery of Ontario, gift of the Fund of the T. Eaton Co. Ltd. For Canadian Works of Art in 1948 © Family of Lawren S. Harris Foto courtesy of AGO, Foto: Ian Lefebvre.

Tom Thomson The West Wind, winter 1916–17 Oil on canvas 120,7 × 137,9 cm Art Gallery of Ontario, gift of the Canadian Club of Toronto in 1926 © Art Gallery of Ontario.

Tom Thomson Black Spruce and Maple, fall 1915 Oil on wood panel 21,6 × 26,7 cm Art Gallery of Ontario, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Lawren S. Harris, Toronto, in 1927 © Art Gallery of Ontario, Photo: Craig Boyko.

Arthur Lismer Sunlight in a Wood, 1930 Oil on canvas 91,4 × 101,6 cm Art Gallery of Ontario, bequest of John M. Lyle, Toronto, in 1946 © Estate of Arthur Lismer, Photo courtesy of AGO.

Lawren Harris Beaver Pond, 1921 Oil on canvas 81,7 × 102 cm National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchased in 1996 © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa © Family of Lawren S. Harris.

Tom Thomson Northern River, winter 1914–15 Oil on canvas 115,1 × 102 cm National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchased in 1915 © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.

Franklin Carmichael Autumn Hillside, 1920 Oil on canvas 76 × 91,4 cm Art Gallery of Ontario, gift of the J. S. McLean Collection, Toronto, 1969, donated by the Ontario Heritage Foundation in 1988 © Art Gallery of Ontario.

A. Y. Jackson Lake Superior Country, 1924 Oil on canvas 117 × 148 cm McMichael Canadian Art Collection, gift of Mr. S. Walter Stewart © McMichael Canadian Art Collection © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020.

Emily Carr Heina Q.C.I., 1928 Oil on canvas 129,6 × 91,2 cm National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchased in 1937 © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.

Emily Carr Blunden Harbour, ca. 1930 Oil on canvas 129,8 × 93,6 cm National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchased in 1937 © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.

J. E. H. MacDonald Falls, Montreal River, 1920 Oil on canvas 121,9 × 153 cm Art Gallery of Ontario, purchased in 1933 © Art Gallery of Ontario.

F. H. Varley Mountain Sketching, ca. 1929 Oil on plywood 30,5 × 38,1 cm Art Gallery of Ontario, gift of Mrs. Doris Huestis Mills Speirs, Pickering, Ontario, in 1971 © Varley Art Gallery of Markham/City of Markham, Photo courtesy of AGO.

J. E. H. MacDonald The Beaver Dam, 1919 Oil on canvas 81,6 × 86,7 cm Art Gallery of Ontario, gift of the Reuben and Kate Leonard Canadian Fund in 1926 © Art Gallery of Ontario.

Tom Thomson Log Jam: Sketch for “The Drive”, fall 1916 Oil on composite wood-pulp board 21,6 × 26,7 cm The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario © The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Photo: Michael Cullen.

Emily Carr Trees in the Sky, 1939 Oil on canvas 111,6 × 68,7 cm Art Gallery of Ontario, gift of Richard M. Ivey in 2008 © Art Gallery of Ontario.

Emily Carr Reforestation, 1936 Oil on canvas 110 × 67,2 cm McMichael Canadian Art Collection, gift of the Founders, Robert and Signe McMichael © McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

Lawren Harris Miners’ Houses, Glace Bay, ca. 1925 Oil on canvas 107,3 × 127 cm Art Gallery of Ontario, bequest of Charles S. Band, Toronto, in 1970 © Family of Lawren S. Harris, Photo courtesy of AGO.

Lawren Harris Ontario Hill Town, 1926 Oil on canvas 85,7 × 102,8 cm University College Art Collection, University of Toronto, gift of H. S. Southam in 1947–48, in memory of major Gordon H. Southam (B.A. UC 0T7), who was killed at the Somme in 1916 © University College Art Collection, University of Toronto, Foto: Toni Hafkenscheid © Family of Lawren S. Harris.

Yvonne McKague Housser Silver Mine, Cobalt, 1930 Oil on canvas 77 × 89,5 cm Collection of Museum London. F.B. Housser Memorial Collection, 1945 © Museum London © Estate of Yvonne McKague Housser.

Franklin Carmichael A Northern Silver Mine, 1930 Oil on canvas 101,5 × 121,2 cm McMichael Canadian Art Collection, gift of Mrs. A. J. Latner © McMichael Canadian Art Collection.

Franklin Carmichael The Nickel Belt, 1928 Oil on canvas 122,2 × 102,2 cm Firestone Collection of Canadian Art, Ottawa Art Gallery, donated to the City of Ottawa by the Ontario Heritage Foundation © Firestone Collection of Canadian Art, Ottawa Art Gallery.

Tom Thomson Moose at Night, winter 1916 Oil on wood 20,9 × 26,9 cm National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, purchased in 1918 © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.

Tom Thomson Northern Lights, about 1916–1917 Oil on wood 21,6 × 26,7 cm The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, purchase, A. Sidney Dawes Fund © The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Photo: Jean-François Brière.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Unknown photographer, Tom Thomson at Tea Lake Dam, Algonquin Provincial Park, 1916 E. P. Taylor Library and Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, gift of Marjorie Lismer Bridges, 1976 Photo: Art Gallery of Ontario LA.ALF.S5.1.

Unknown photographer, Franklin Carmichael at Grace Lake, Killarney Provincial Park, Ontario, 1935 McMichael Canadian Art Collection Archives © McMichael Canadian Art Collection Archives.

Unknown photographer, F. H. Varley in Lynn Valley, British Colombia, 1937, Art Gallery of Ontario.

FILMS

Lisa Jackson (Dir.) How a People Live, 2013, film excerpt HD video, colour, sound, 59 min. 5 sec. Courtesy Moving Images Distribution Society © Courtesy Moving Images Distribution Society © Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw Nations.

Edward S. Curtis In the Land of the Head Hunters / In the Land of the War Canoes, 1914, film excerpt Film (restoration with original musical score, tinted, sound, 66 min.) © Courtesy of Milestone Film & Video, Harrington Park, New Jersey © Estate Edward S. Curtis.

Robert Gardner Blunden Harbour, 1951, film still Film (digital video transfer, black and white, sound, 22 min.) Richard Selig (casting), W. H. Heinck, P. Jacquemin (camera), M. E. Dowd (sound) © Courtesy of Documentary Educational Resources, Watertown, Massachusetts © Estate Robert Gardner.

Caroline Monnet Mobilize, 2015, film excerpt Single-channel video (colour, sound, 3 min.) Courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada © Courtesy of Caroline Monnet.

Caroline Monnet Transatlantic, 2018, film excerpt Multichannel HD video installation (color, sound, 15 min. 10 sec.) Courtesy of the artist © Courtesy of Caroline Monnet.

Canadian Government Motion Picture Bureau Big Timber (film excerpt), 1935 Film (digital video transfer, black and white, sound, 11 min.) W. Graham (photography), David Gwydyr (scenario), Rupert Caplan (narrator) © Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada.

SCHIRN SHORTCUT
The Wilderness in Art © Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt 2018.