CANADIAN ART

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 58, 10 March 1938, Page 17

CANADIAN ART

DISTINCT NEW SCHOOL

INTERESTINGtEXfiIBITION

When.Canada was first' settled .by colonists from Britain and the ' practice of art had .^necessarily: to take. second, place ,tp- r 'the".provision of homes and the necessaries of life. But gradually the settlers found more time to devote to art, and there.',was'/ a slow growth of an academic school of painting which was quite naturally deeply rooted in the traditions of the art schools of Great Britain and the Continent. The Royal .Canadian Academy, the Ontario Society of Artists, and similar bodies 1 typify this phase of the development of Canadian art. This" traditional, manner of painting still continues, especially in portrait painting, but progressively less to ,the landscape and free figure painting throughout the country. ' During the last twenty-five years, however, according to Mr. Eric Brown, s director of the National Gallery at Ottawa, a very distinct Canadianis,m has made its appearance in : painting and to a.smaller degree in sculpture and trie reproductive arts.' A: group of young painters^' mostly- connected forpurposes of income with commercial design, came together, drawn' by similarity of artistic ideals and a ; healthy determination of European art schools. It was not long before they . were penetrating such regions as the. wilds of northern Ontario, /the western prairies, .the Rocky Mountains, and the Pacific- Coast, which had never before been artistically explored and all of which yielded fresh and characteristically Canadian material for their canr . vases. ' . _~ ",.-'-,. ■;';'■■'_, Another group less united; in aim" • developed in Montreal'about the same time and perpetuated somewhat loosely and individually the ideals of*the£an« |adian-born painter James Wilson, Morricey who was then achieving distinction in Paris, having founded "a char- • acteris^ic style on a variety.""of "in- *• fluences, among which were his first master, Henri Harpignes, and the 1870 impressionists., ■ .": ' ; ' . ;.''. :'. ,■. The Ontario group made the greater progress and fought the harder batlla for recognition. The strength and ori- ' ginality of the painting of Tom Thom- >, son.'J. E. H. MacDonald, and others brought it' such prominence that it could hot be ignored however much1 it .might be misunderstood. .In* 1919, for greater strength and unity; the'Group of Seven was formed and continued 1 to hold vigorous and controversial exhibitions for the- next [thirteen years. .

In 1932, when the battle for the newidea seemed to be won, the Group of Seven was finally 'disbanded, or more correctly perhaps/.merged ; intoV.l the larger and more':recently-formed Canadian Group of'Painters." :•■.;■(, It .was'.yiat the ~/BrHisffi:Empingi Exhibitions ..''of! 1924 ■ ahti'"l9JZs that Great Britain; first had: .an-opportunity ,of seeing this new; Canadiariism in art side*,by' side with 'the ■ workVof < her sister Dominions. A study of the critical comment of the "time shows tha very generous admiration andconsiderable surprise' with- which it was" received. Since that,time similar exhibitions have been held in Europe, and in the United State's, where they hava been received with much,. the same interest arid appreciated.for,a quality which, if n&t entirely worthy perhaps o.f the title national, in view of; tha iriimensity of the country, the smallness of ,th|S output/and the immaturijty of art? organisations SfOr its advancement,, is nevertheless a tribute, to 'isr^EflriMJßl^anadiaii Srtd^rieitHer};ißritisfi^ (Cbntinenital, \ nor, American iri- its;coritentS \\'?yv's ''■. ;.- -l"'.r-'vSraiiKiNGL:ir;;DECOEA*IV'E:1

■ : 'N,ew. Zeal.ahd, .tlfrpugh'/thp;J ehterpfile^ of. the;,: Carnegie Corporation■',of New, York, is now. enabled to see what Its sister-Dominion has- achieved in the . rea'lrii of. art. .The exhibition:of,iCana- y dian pictures, .which ,is']to;*be opened. xtomorrow in'the Kati6nat:Art,Gallery by the Canadian Government- Trade Commissioner, ,Mr. W. F.. Bull, ; and which will remain open for d.month, constitutes a representative crossrsec-.' tion ybf the work''being produced by Canadian artists at the present time.

It will be exceedingly. interesting: for New • Zealanders to see these pictures, niany of which'are on loan; from the Canadian National Gallery, arid to note for themselves the-development that has. |aken place and ito »eee : how far, that development is' analogpiis to th» developmentCpf artyu? '-Zealand. / There are; iust|jowr''pneSifitadred pictures Y in'. the cojiejctioriV :both v i oils mivrsAer rcolp\ir^,.aridsin;';the^National Art "G'^llery■ they' are dispjayedfto; ad-

vantage. What strikes^orie; at ' once, about the pictures is 'that they, are in Vthe main |fraii|dy decorative'; bolour ".and desigh'beirig ' very -. pronounced. . Modernism is ./in some cases, -perhaps, carried-'to but with purpose and ■with- effectfThis is seen, for instance,';.in, "Icebergs and Mountains, Greenland"- and "Fish House, Caldwell, Lake Superior,"'two works by La wren S. Harris, a member of the Group" of Seven." "Vet the various artists whose w6rk is being ■ exhibited! show considerable diversity in the way in which they handle .their subjects. Not all ojE them are so markedly modernistic in'their outlook and

methods, and some,'of the) pictures show a delicacy ,of treatment which one is accustomed to 'see in the work of English arid. New . Zealand artists of

note... ■ ■ ,''"'•;-'.; .;.'. \ V-..' ';,,•.'•' "It is hardly a matter ior surprise that snow, and in a.ftevt cases* ice, figure in the landscapes,: seeing that winter occupies a- goodlyk portion '.of

the Canadian calendar. But the fierce cold provides the _ artists, with !scenes of austere beauty, -'oi which 'they, have

not been slow to take "advantage. Snow

on the mountains, snow'.in the-streets, and ice in the" harbours'have: all been

painted, but the palm for snow pictures must surely, be awarded to. Clar-

ence A. Gagnon for his flee Harvest, Quebec." A"few,of -:the;|artists have

introduced into their-pictures" something of the Red Indian—totem p'dlei

or something similarc arid itmust ,be admitted, with greater. success -thari is

often the case with ■ New Zealand art-

ists arid Maori subjects.; Special interest will be taken, iii the two paintings by Arthur liismerV who not long ago : was ■' lecturing 'in Wellington on art;; ;-.-;'■";■; ;-.- ■,■■/••■ :',. .. '

;Land?papes predominate in the exhibition, but: what;little figure painting there'is is good. The oils are generally superior to the water colours, but .few., of ..the latter, being very strik-

ing or! much; better'Hhaft wKat New

Zealand water colourists .can do. The

oils have ,an undeniable . arresting quality; ■ .-whether: one '"likes" them or not,; and there is •no ■ doubt" that this

exhibition of contempprar.^/Canadian art will createI;more,- interest janid* be

p.roVdcatiye. of. moire /'discussioti- (not only amongst artists) ?thanVanyv<rf the

various, art .exhibitions, 'whith i.' have been- held reWtly in the National Gallery. . ■ •,.- '■■'■ ..: ■ ,-.-/-'■ :■', >'\ ■ ■■■ .