Research Paper - Canadian Art - The Group of Seven Essay

Research Paper - Canadian Art - The Group of Seven - Essay Example The original group members comprised of Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, F.H. Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. Macdonald, and F.H. Varley. Interestingly, they started out as magazine illustrators. Their main objective was to adhere to a uniquely Canadian method of painting landscapes (Smith, n.d.). In particular, Harris was an art student in Berlin before he came back to Toronto (Smith, n.d.). He started drawing inspirations from the Laurentians and the Alogonquin Park (Naasgard, 2008). He became specifically fascinated by the northern part of Canada because of its extensiveness and seeming mystique. It was in 1912 that Harris met Macdonald, Jackson, and eventually the rest of the unit members (Naasgard, 2008). The rest of the Group of Seven’s history sprang from there. It was inevitable though that some members would come and go. Johnston for instance, went away after their first art show and was replaced by A.J. Casson (Smith, n.d.). This makes Casson truly a part of the Group of Seven. Moreover, the group opened itself to other members who want to join in their exhibit. They didn’t have to be landscape artists in specific. Even a woman, in the person of Emily Carr, was one of those the group invited. What was important for the Group of Seven was that both members and non-members promote a different way of depicting Canadian art. In general, the Group of Seven art was characterized by a joyful and attractive style. Their works featured an original way of depicting landscapes by producing visuals of the Northern part of Canada that were not explored before. The colors that were often seen in the paintings included browns and burst of oranges (Adamczyk, 2008). But in the case of Harris, he also incorporated his uniqueness by the way he stripped some details off from his painting. To point out a few, he had the tendency to portray trees losing their