The Group of Seven is one of the most influential collectives in Canadian art history. But here’s what most people don’t know: the name doesn’t tell the full story. While it began with seven painters, the circle eventually grew to include twelve artists, each of them essential to what the movement became.
This group has always been a deep source of inspiration for me. It’s not just what they painted it’s when and how they painted it. Their bold use of colour, shadow, and light captured the raw beauty of the Canadian landscape in a way that felt entirely new. Many of them carried a direct connection to European traditions, yet they carved out something distinctly Canadian.
My own work is shaped by that same mix, a combination of my Irish and Scottish roots, a strong connection to Celtic art, and a lifelong love of the Canadian landscape. Their influence shows up in how I see things: the shape of the sky, the edges of the forest, and the space that holds it all together.
This post is my way of paying respect to all twelve artists who helped shape this movement. Their work continues to guide me, and I carry their legacy with me every time I pick up a brush.
Frederick Varley, A. Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris, Barker Fairley (not a member), Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, and J. E. H. MacDonald. Image ca. 1920
The Core Group
Lawren Harris
Lawren Harris wasn’t just the spiritual anchor of the Group of Seven he was also one of its greatest enablers. Born into the wealthy Harris family of Massey-Harris (later Massey Ferguson) fame in 1885, he used his financial freedom to support the movement directly. He paid for trips, exhibitions, and supplies, and he helped fund the Studio Building in Toronto a purpose-built space for artists, including members of the Group. That building still stands today at 25 Severn Street and remains a historic landmark in Canadian art.
Harris believed painting was more than image-making it was a path to something larger. He was deeply influenced by Theosophy, a spiritual movement that shaped his thinking and visual style. Over time, his landscapes moved from rich detail to simplified, abstracted forms that carried a meditative stillness. His paintings of Lake Superior, the Rockies, and the Arctic aren’t just depictions of place they feel like quiet revelations.
He completed over 2,000 works before his death in 1970. Many are now housed in collections at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and the AGO: Art Gallery of Ontario, where I often go to stand in front of them. His vision helped define Canadian painting not just by what he created, but by what he made possible for others.
Franklin Carmichael
Carmichael was one of the first painters from the Group who really spoke to me. Even early on, his work stood out not for its boldness, but for its clarity. Born in 1890 in Orillia, he captured the forests, hills, and lakes of northern Ontario with a soft strength that felt honest and measured.
His watercolours, woodblock prints, and oil paintings all shared that same quiet confidence. There’s a stillness in his work that draws you in, like standing alone by a northern lake and just listening. While others in the Group leaned into drama, Carmichael held to balance and restraint.
He passed in 1945, leaving behind close to 2,000 pieces. His work continues to remind me that subtlety, handled with care, can be just as powerful as anything loud or sweeping.
A.Y. Jackson
Born in 1882, A.Y. Jackson was the wanderer of the Group. He travelled across the country, painting small towns, backroads, and remote northern places most people had never seen. His brushwork was loose and expressive, and his palette was grounded earthy tones, moody skies, and flashes of light where it mattered. Jackson had a way of capturing the rhythm of everyday Canadian life without romanticizing it. He painted what was there and made it feel alive. When he passed in 1974, he left behind a body of work that reads like a visual diary of the country’s early story.
J.E.H. MacDonald
MacDonald was born in 1873 and brought a lyrical, almost musical quality to the land. His work focused on forests, ravines, and weather, often painted with thick, deliberate strokes. He had a deep respect for the emotional weight of place, capturing it with a painter’s patience. As one of the earliest members, he helped shape the Group’s vision and set the tone for what Canadian landscape painting could become. When he died in 1932, he left behind more than 2,000 works that still hold a quiet power.
Arthur Lismer
Born in England in 1885, Arthur Lismer brought energy to the landscape. His paintings had motion in them windswept trees, active skies, coastlines that felt like they were shifting under your feet. He immigrated to Halifax as a child, later settling in Toronto, where he became a founding member of the Group. Beyond painting, he was deeply committed to teaching and helped shape art education across the country. When he passed in 1969, he had created more than 3,000 works, each one grounded in the wild, living spirit of the land.
Frederick Varley
Varley was born in England in 1881 and brought a raw emotional intensity to the Group’s work. His landscapes weren’t just scenic they carried a kind of inner weight, especially in his paintings of the Rockies, where beauty met solitude. Later in his career, he turned to portraiture, capturing the same depth in people that he once found in mountains and skies. He was one of the Group’s most expressive voices. By the time he died in 1969, he had created more than 2,000 works filled with feeling.
Frank Johnston
Born in 1888, Frank Johnston was one of the original members of the Group, though he left early to forge his own path. His work is known for its clarity especially in winter scenes, where light and shadow are handled with precision. His compositions had a clean, structured feel, often capturing the stillness of snow-covered landscapes.
Even outside the Group, Johnston remained incredibly prolific. By 1949, he had produced over 8,000 pieces more than any of his peers. His dedication and distinct style continue to hold a place in Canadian collections and in the broader story of the movement.
Later Additions
A.J. Casson
Casson has always been one of my favourites. He joined the Group in 1926 after Frank Johnston left, bringing a more structured and refined approach. While others focused on the wilderness, Casson painted small-town Ontario quiet streets, rural buildings, and everyday places most artists overlooked.
His training as a commercial artist gave his work a strong sense of design. He simplified shapes without losing depth, often using vertical compositions that made modest subjects feel monumental. During World War II, he served as a war artist, adding another layer to his legacy.
Casson lived until 1992, painting with clarity and discipline his entire life. I admire how he found power in restraint and made the ordinary feel timeless.
Edwin Holgate
Edwin Holgate brought something different to the Group a human presence. Born in Montreal in 1892, he was one of the few members equally focused on figures and forests. While most of the Group painted wide, untouched landscapes, Holgate often placed people within them. That shift added intimacy and complexity to the overall vision.
He helped bridge the Group's connection to Quebec’s art scene, where he was deeply rooted. His style was quieter, more introspective, often leaning into wood engraving and portraiture. Holgate wasn’t the loudest voice in the movement, but his work carried weight. When he passed in 1977, he had created over 1,000 pieces each grounded in a very personal sense of place.
L.L. FitzGerald
The last to join the Group, FitzGerald brought a calm, prairie voice to the movement. Based in Winnipeg, he painted the quiet geometry of farmland, sky, and still spaces with careful precision. Born in 1890, he was also a teacher and arts advocate in Western Canada. He died in 1956, leaving behind a body of work that’s subtle, serene, and deeply grounded.
Tom Thomson
Though never officially a member, Tom Thomson is at the heart of this story. Born in 1877, he died tragically in 1917 three years before the Group of Seven formally came together. But it was his work, his friendship, and his fearless approach to the northern landscape that laid the groundwork for everything that followed.
Thomson captured the wildness of Algonquin Park with unmatched energy. His brushwork was expressive, his compositions raw and immediate. Paintings like The Jack Pine and The West Wind have become national icons. In just a few short years of painting mostly between 1912 and 1917 he created around 400 oil sketches and nearly 50 larger canvases. The scale of his influence is far larger than his output.
To me, Thomson’s work doesn’t feel dated it feels alive. It still holds the wind, the water, and the solitude of the north. His legacy lives not only in galleries, but in the forests he painted and in the hands of every Canadian artist who’s tried to paint what the land feels like.
And Then There’s Emily Carr
Emily Carr was never officially a member of the Group, but her place in this story is undeniable. Born in 1871 in Victoria, she painted the forests, coastlines, and Indigenous totem poles of British Columbia with boldness and spiritual depth.
Lawren Harris once told her, “You are one of us,” and that recognition mattered. It gave her momentum at a time when few supported her vision. She went on to create over 2,000 works, each filled with energy, solitude, and reverence for the land.
Carr’s voice was independent and fearless. She painted from instinct, not from trend, and her legacy stands firmly alongside the Group, not behind it.
Together, these twelve artists shaped the way we see Canada not through spectacle, but through honesty. They painted the land, the weather, and the space we move through with a kind of quiet conviction. They weren’t trying to be legends. They were simply paying attention.
Their influence is part of my own work, and it’s something I continue to revisit. I often find myself standing in front of their paintings at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg or the AGO in Toronto, seeing something new each time. Their work lives there in rooms filled with northern skies, rocky shorelines, and silent tree lines and it still holds.
I return to their paintings not to follow in their footsteps, but to stay grounded in my own direction. They remind me of what painting can hold: place, presence, and purpose which make me reflect more about the kind of legacy I want to leave behind.
– Jeff
