Canada’s national culture has been shaped by prose, poetry and painting in varying degrees since the country’s early days. The artistic movement in Canada has transitioned significantly throughout the course of the nation’s development, from an agricultural society to the urbanized one known today. Early periods view art much differently than those who followed, like the Group of Seven. A notably nationalist art movement suggests that their art represented a dramatic departure from earlier styles of painting in Canada. This paper will argue that the Group of Seven did in fact play a major role in its transition, in addition to ‘Great White Hope’, the myth of the North, which catered to the idealistic notion of the North’s influence in art. The work of Homer Watson, After the Rain, and Arthur Lismer’s, A September Gale, will also be used to help note the changing style and dynamic of Canadian art.
Artistic ideals in Canada are often difficult to combine into one concise understanding given their changing nature. The colonial era as well as the late nineteenth century was significantly shaped by Pastoralism, a style that often depicted paintings of the countryside (Davis 36). The Homer Watson painting, After the Rain in 1883 is a pastoral style that depicts “nature reach[ing] its highest stage of picturesque beauty [that only occurs] when forests [have] been cleared, meadows or fields created or cultivated and farms established” (36). After the Rain shows a farmer’s field, where the land has been cleared of trees following what looks to be a major storm (38). Watson represents early Canada by placing emphasis on a secure, eerily comfortable, agrarian based society in a photographic-like piece of work. Homer Watson believed in his w...
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...epresentation of key national symbols, ” (Davis 41) it was not until later that further expansion of the artistic disciple notably covered wider expanses of Canadian territory in terms of social and cultural supports.
The growth of art in Canada has played a pivotal role in the development of Canadian culture. An individuals ability to connect themselves to their country has increasely been linked to artistic works and their representation of national ideals. Earlier pieces such as After the Rain by Homer Watson represent an artistic sense of agrarian society, which later shifted to an increasely modern perspective through the work of the Group of Seven. Group member Arthur Lismer’s, A September Gale, reflects represents a dramatic departure away from earlier styles of panting and its representative ideals feed into a similar vision the North portrays for Canada.
Today Canada and the United States are major trading partners, allies, and two neighboring countries with a long history of cooperation with each other. But is it possible for Canada to protect its independence and culture living next door to the country so powerful and rich as the United States. Since the Canadian confederation, Canada started developing relations with the U.S. As the years passed by, Canada began to relay on the United States in the national defense. Many Canadians think that the military, political and economical dependence would not make a difference to their daily life. But today more then even Canadian culture is affected by the American influence. Media, American artists, economic dependence, American propaganda and political pressure from the United States is making Canada too Americanized. All of these factors reflect on the social life of ordinary Canadians threatening the heritage and the traditions that define Canada as independent country.
The Group of Seven is arguably made up of Canada’s most famous artists. Best known for their landscape paintings, there are few portraits that have become national Canadian icons, including Frederick Varley’s Vera (1930).
Upper Canada was in the tumultuous process of settlement during the nineteenth century. From 1800-1860, wheat and flour exports went from a negligible amount to peak at 13 billion bushels in 1860.1 It is important to understand the rapid nature of settlement to contextualize life in rural Upper Canada. From 1805-1840, the population increased by over eight hundred percent.2 Many of these were Irish emigrants, even in the period preceding the famine; these pre-Famine Irish emigrants were predominantly “middling farmers,” «c'est à dire des fermiers cultivant des terres petites ou moyennes, ceux qui ont été le plus durement touchés par la baisse soudaine des prix des produits agricoles à la fin des guerres napoléoniennes [en Europe]».3 Many of the emigrants settled into townships and villages on the agricultural frontier, such as the Biddul...
“Clearing the Plains” begins set in the time period of 1100 C.E before Europeans ever settle into Canada. It depicts the laid back lifestyle that Indgienous people became accustomed to where everyone had a role and the community worked together to survive. However, as time goes on the Indigenous populations becomes thrust into a disease stricken society where there is no hope for survival due to minimal resources. The author, James Daschuk goes on to argue the reasons for this
Canada experienced the revolution of changing politics and new ideologies, it was a necessary wave
Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective. N.p., 2014. Print.
Lawson, Mary. The Other Side of the Bridge. Vintage Canada ed. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2007. Print.
Examining the formal qualities of Homer Watson’s painting Horse and Rider In A Landscape was quite interesting. I chose to analyze this piece as apposed to the others because it was the piece I liked the least, therefore making me analyze it more closely and discover other aspects of the work, besides aesthetics.
Thompson, John Herd, and Mark Paul Richard. "Canadian History in North American Context." In Canadian studies in the new millennium. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008. 37-64.
Grant Wood’s American Gothic is one of the most famous paintings in the history of American art. The painting brought Wood almost instant fame after being exhibited for the first time at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1930. It is probably the most reproduced and parodied works of art, and has become a staple within American pop-culture. The portrait of what appears to be a couple, standing solemnly in front of their mid-western home seems to be a simplistic representation of rural America. As simple as it sounds, when looking deeper into this image, it reveals something much more complex.
Jackson, Franz Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. Macdonald, and F.H. Varley (Leigh). The Group of Seven was considered an organization of self-proclaimed modern artists. All befriend each other in Toronto between 1911 and 1913, except Harris, who was independently wealthy. They made their living as commercial artists which create art for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. Commercial art includes designing books, signs, posters, and advertisements. Tom Thomson was also included in this circle of friends but never became a member of the Group of Seven since he died in 1917. He influenced the Group in painting the rugged northern Ontario landscape. The Group of Seven were the most important Canadian artists of the beginning of the twentieth century as well as Tom Thomson, Emily Carr, and David Milne. They have influenced many artists such as the abstract painter, Jack Brush, and figurative painter, Peter Doig. The Group of Seven’s paintings is an important part to Canada’s identity and their paintings show that Canada is known for having snowy mountains, boreal forests and endless lakes (Varley). Some paintings by the members of the Group of Seven include: “Mirror Lake” painted in 1929 by Franklin Carmichael, and “Northland Hilltop” painted in 1931 by J.E.H. Macdonald
The Romantic era’s new “American identity” was realized by the 18th-century’s literary, social, and artistic push for the creation of a culture that was unique to American society and the expansionist urge to expand America’s political realm of power. This was achieved with the influence of manifest destiny and expansionism, the emergence of transcendentalism and transcendentalist literature, and the identity of the American man being characterized by the traits of the “common man”, and the exploration of nature and the frontier through art.
Despite illustrating the same culture, “British Columbia Memorial” by Darcy Large and "The Spirit of Place" painting by Taylor Tabry-Dorzek prove to have various differences if we consider criteria of inherent meaning, significant beauty and fulfilled intent. Both have an inherent meaning. The historical painting by Large wishes to depict the darker side of the indigenous history and culture. For this reason, the artist uses her work to evoke emotions of heartbreak and remorse in the viewer. Contrastly, “The Spirit of Place” painting by Tabry-Dorzek wishes to depict the natural beauty and wonders of the Aboriginal culture. Both display significant beauty. The beauty of Large’s work consists of a darker, adjacent colour scheme. On the other
... Ed. W. Gordon West and Ruth Morris. Toronto, Canada: A Canadian Scholar? Press, 2000.
A major idea that is depicted in these pieces of art, is the idea of the West and how settlers approached it. In the painting The Oxbow, Cole depicts the west side of the painting as the left side. He shows an overgrown forest, with sharp rigid trees, and a dark gray looming cloud. While on the right side he shows a peaceful valley with a blue sky and lots of light, and cultivated land. This relates to the article “The Mythology of Hope and Change” by Ira Chernus, because Chernus describes the