The Group of Seven and Beyond: Art Toronto Preview

You don’t have to go to Toronto to see the Group of Seven.

Rookleys Canadian Art is pleased to present The Group of Seven and Beyond, a special exhibition showcasing the artists, friendships, teachers, and students that shaped Canadian landscape painting, and the ways their influence continues today.

The exhibition is a preview of Rookleys’ upcoming show at Art Toronto, giving visitors in Niagara an opportunity to experience these works before they are presented at Canada’s leading art fair.

The Group of Seven holds a central place in Canadian art history. Through their paintings of the Canadian landscape, the Group helped establish a distinctly Canadian artistic identity in the early twentieth century. Yet their story extends far beyond the seven artists themselves. Surrounding the Group was a much wider circle of artists, students, colleagues, teachers, and contemporaries whose contributions helped expand their ideas across Canada.

The Group of Seven and Beyond explores these relationships that shaped generations of Canadian painters. Alongside works by members of the Group of Seven, visitors will encounter paintings by artists who knew, worked alongside, studied under, or were influenced by the Group and its wider circle.

Visitors will encounter paintings by Group of Seven members including A.Y. Jackson, J.E.H. MacDonald, Franklin Carmichael, Frank Johnston, A.J. Casson, and Edwin Holgate, alongside works by artists whose careers intersected with or were influenced by the Group.

Among them are Ralph Burton, Frederick Stanley Haines, Robert Pilot, Herbert Sidney Palmer, Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Maud Lewis, Nora Collyer, Charles Comfort, and others who contributed to the development of Canadian landscape painting throughout the

twentieth century.

The influence of the Group of Seven can still be seen in Canadian art today. The exhibition also features works by living Canadian artists who have been inspired by the Group, their ideas, and their approach to painting. Together, these works show how the Group of Seven’s influence has continued across generations and remains part of the story of Canadian art today.

In bringing these generations together, The Group of Seven and Beyond offers a broader perspective on one of the most influential movements in Canadian art.