Featured Artwork - Brief Article

Arts & Activities, Oct, 2000

Arthur Lismer (Canadian, 1885-1969). Isles of Spruce, c. 1922. Oil on canvas; 119.4 x 162.4 cm. Hart House, Permanent Collection, University of Toronto, Canada.

THINGS TO LEARN

* One of the reasons for including this picture is that it captures the character of the large area north of the Great Lakes that was shaped over tens of thousands of years by the grinding forces of enormous glaciers. For thousands of square miles, the landscape--much of it in the Canadian province of Ontario--is composed of rocks and boulders that have been rounded and polished by the enormous weight and slow movement of the ice cap that once covered the area. The result is a forested landscape combined with much bare rock and uncounted smoothly rounded boulders. It is also a landscape of thousands of lakes. The largest of these are the Great Lakes of Superior and Huron, while many of the smaller ones have no names.

* Arthur Lismer was a member of the famous group of Canadian landscape painters, the Group of Seven. It is likely also that he gave the group its name. The idea of painting the magnificent scenery found along the Canadian shores of the Great Lakes had its beginnings before World War I, although the group is usually said to have begun with its first exhibition in 1920. It ceased after its 40th and final exhibition in 1931. Individuals continued to work long afterwards, however, but never as a tight-knit group.

* The members of the Group of Seven continually experimented with different ways of painting and because of that were thought to be rebels. Their real rebellion was against the growing power of industrialism and commerce. In response to increasing industrial and commercial growth, they left their city studios to work for long periods in various parts of the Canadian wilderness. Perhaps their greatest strength, however, lay in the continual exchanges of ideas and encouragement that occurred when they worked together.

Part of their time away from home, they lived in an old railroad boxcar that had been converted into a studio. On other occasions, they lived in tents or with park rangers in their cabins.

* When the Group of Seven worked outdoors, they drew with pencil and occasionally made oil sketches. These sketches were quite roughly drawn, but they provided the artists with enough information for a later time when they painted their finished pictures in their studios.

* While this painting shows a quiet scene in early fall, paintings by Group of Seven artists include scenes from every season and every kind of weather. In some pictures, violent winds bend trees and whip up white-capped waves on the lakes. Brilliant autumnal colors in areas where there are many deciduous trees, such as aspens and maples, result in paintings that are masses of yellow and orange. And, in some winter scenes, the landscapes lie still and silent as though waiting for the ice and snow to melt. In contrast, other scenes show melting snows, which swell rivers that cascade down mountainsides in rushing torrents.

THINGS TO DO

* One of the first things students should do after studying this picture is to learn more about the area where it was painted. The small map will help them get started. After that they will need to turn to books and photographs as well as pictures by other artists. Travel books and geography books will also help, and so will family snapshots from students who have visited the area for fishing, hunting or camping.

* Students may also be interested in learning more about the appearance of the cliffs and rocks of the area. This knowledge can help them enrich their own art.

Quite often students paint all rocks a dull gray. In this part of the continent, however, rocks are present in many shades of gray, while others are bright pink. Some other rocks are almost jet black while others are such a sparkling white that it seems as though the ground is covered with snow--even in summertime.

* In this part of Canada, the majority of trees are evergreens, which means that they do not lose their leaves in the winter. They have a central trunk with numbers of smaller branches growing out horizontally. Instead of leaves they have needles, and they spread their seeds in cones.

Although conifer trees look more or less like Christmas trees, there are many different kinds (species) of this tree. For example, Arthur Lismer's attention was caught by clumps of spruce trees growing on small rocky islands in the middle of a lake.

Since each species of conifer tree looks different, students who take the time to study them will be able to include varieties of these evergreen trees in their own work rather than unimaginative and over-simplified Christmas-tree shapes.

BUILDING A PICTURE FILE

This painting may be used to illustrate various art-teaching needs. Potentially useful picture-file categories include: "Canadian Painters: The Group of Seven"; "Landscapes: Canadian"; "Reflections"; "Rocks"; and "Trees: Conifers." For ideas about collecting and retrieving pictures to help in teaching art and other subjects, readers are invited to write to: Guy Hubbard c/o Arts & Activities, 591 Camino de la Reina, Suite 200, San Diego, CA 92108.