| In a season that is crowded with expensive and often under-stimulating coffee-table books comes an exception: The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson by art historian and Sotheby’s (Canada) managing director David P. Silcox.
The main focus of the book is the Group of Seven, but Silcox wisely includes Tom Thomson in this 441-page tome. During his life – and even after his death sometime between July 8 and 17, 1917, when he mysteriously drowned in Canoe Lake at Algonquin Park at age 39 – Thomson held enormous influence over the legendary group of Canadian painters.
"They learned from him," says Wilcox during a stopover in Calgary as part of a book-promotion tour. "He was spiritually part of the Group of Seven."
The opening pages of the book feature magnificent reproductions of Thomson’s paintings The West Wind (1916 - 1917) and The Jack Pine (1916 - 1917). These colour plates set the standard for the rest of the volume, which includes more than 360 paintings by the Group of Seven, including 123 that have never been reproduced before.
By relentlessly pursuing private collectors, museums and institutions across the country – and, indeed, the world – Silcox has provided an unprecedented view of some of the best works the Group of Seven produced during their 13-year history (1920 - 1933).
Despite his Herculean efforts in tracking down paintings, only a fraction of the Group’s works are reproduced. This is more an observation than a criticism of the book. Trying to include any more colour reproductions would send the price of the book – which already retails at a suggested $85 – soaring out of the reach of most consumers.
This art book succeeds with Silcox’s concise yet engaging text, which helps readers understand that the Group of Seven (who eventually expanded their ranks to 10) were not only dedicated artists, but also tireless self-promoters who arranged exhibitions of their paintings wherever they were welcomed.
"They criss-crossed the country," says Silcox. "They needed to create some mythology."
Of course, the team of artists was wildly successful in that goal, solidifying a place of honour for themselves in Canadian art that remains unchallenged. Formed, in part, to shake up conservative art institutions that held sway at the time, the Group of Seven ended up creating iconographic paintings that continue to be held up as examples of what Canada represents.
No book about these painters is complete without pictures of Algonquin Park, Georgian Bay and their other well-known subjects, but also included in this book are less-celebrated images of the Canadian Arctic, the West Coast and the East Coast, and portraits as well as landscapes.
Silcox cements the idea once and for all that the Group of Seven were painters that connected with the heart and soul of this land and ultimately changed the way we see and think about Canada and ourselves. |
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