Group of Seven Style and Design

Group of Seven [Exhibit Poster]

About the Exhibit

Over the years, Toronto Public Library has collected a wide range of materials from the Group of Seven including paintings, prints, designs, catalogues, photographs and illustrated books. Armed with canoes, boards and paints, these artists captured the Canadian wilderness through a bold modern approach that defied academic convention. To finance their expeditions, many of the artists worked in commercial art firms, designing illustrations, advertisements and elegant illuminated texts. Group members strove both to express their own love of nature and to develop nationwide support for the arts as a key to the country's emerging cultural independence.

The library is a proud participant in The Group of Seven Project 1920-2005, an Ontario-wide celebration of the Group's first exhibition in 1920.

Exhibition Items:

August Brouet Etching

Bliss Carman
Ballads & Lyrics Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1923.

The Group's most senior member J.E.H. MacDonald had a long and established career as a book designer. The interlocking outlines that distinguish this title page for the first Canadian edition of Carman's work became a characteristic feature of MacDonald's landmark paintings.

*Image used with permission from McClelland and Stewart.

Unknown Photographer, 'Pyramid'

Adjutor Rivard
Chez Nous (Our Old Quebec Home). Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1929.

Rivard's effort to preserve the language, customs and spirit of the habitant is echoed by Montreal native A. Y. Jackson's endpaper. The painter would return to the landscape and rural life of Quebec throughout his career.

*Image used with permission from McClelland and Stewart.

Hugh Lofting's "Dr. Dolittle's Circus"

J.E.H. MacDonald
Bookplate. Canadiana Collection, Toronto Public Libraries

Bookplates reveal not only the owners of an item but also the values they associate with reading. MacDonald balances images from classic adventure tales to frame the two young library users.