The Group of Seven | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a. production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's. here, too, believe it or not. And this. is Stuff You Should Know, the Artsy. edition. Yeah, the uh the O Canada or. the No Canada edition. I don't know. I think it's a Well, let. me ask you this. Had you heard of any of.

the members of the Group of Seven? We. should probably just say Group of Seven. is Canada's most famous art school and. not school like you go and sit in a. classroom and learn, but like a group of. painters who work together, influence. one another, support one another, right? Like a school of fish except they paint, right? A school of fish with paint. brushes. Yeah. Um, so like the like this is these guys. were working in the teen the 19s and. 1920s and they're still like the. foundation of Canada's art, right? Yeah.

Uh, to answer you, I I don't think I had at least as far as. name recognition, but I feel like I have. seen some of these works of art before. in my many museum visits. I didn't. recognize any of them, but I have to say. at first I'm not a big fan of like. 1920s30s in particular aesthetic. There's a lot of brown and yeah, just. dark stuff. Um, but I actually just from.

researching this and looking at more and. more of their paintings, I actually did. become a fan of that that school, but a. couple of them in particular. Yeah, I I. really like this stuff. It's not uh it's. not the kind of thing that personally I. would like hang in my house because. that's just not my house aesthetic that. we're cultivating. Mhm. Uh but I I. really enjoy these landscapes of the the. northern realm of Canada, which is where. as as you'll see shortly, they mainly.

concentrated on the sort of woodlands. north of the major cities. Uh and to. some criticism kind of ignoring the. beautiful coastlines of Canada. Yeah. Yeah. And even the central prairies, too. Yeah. So, it was a pretty specific. thing. Um, seven, sometimes six, sometimes eight. Sometimes 10. Um, oh, as many as 10. I think there was 10. overall. Okay. That kind of came and. went. Some passed on. Some were fringe. members that they were like, "You're.

really one of us, but maybe not an. official group of seven because you're a. woman." Yeah. And in her case, for sure. Um, but yeah. So, let's let's dig into. this. Okay. So, uh, we said that the. Group of Seven kind of form the. foundation of Canada's artistic. identity. And there's a number of. reasons why, like really solid reasons. why that go well beyond these these guys. artistic abilities, which makes the. whole thing that much more interesting. if you ask me. But one of the reasons.

why is because they came together and. started painting Canada's wilderness in. particular at a time when Canada was. looking to develop its national identity. because it wasn't until. 1867 that Canada formed the dominion of. Canada with um the province of Canada. which is now Ontario and Quebec, Nova. Scotia and New Brunswick. And then I. think five years later they brought BC. into the mix. But that's what Rush sings.

about when they they sing about marching. to Bastile Day aboard the Thailand. Express. Yeah, totally. And that's that, you know, they were trying, like you. said, to form a national identity, sort. of uh deanglize. Uh yeah, like something you do in a in a. kitchen actually, right? deanglize and you know in other words. shake off a bit of that uh Britishness. that lingered on uh both you know. politically, economically and as we'll. see here artistically. Um their their.

formal formation started in. 1920. Uh but as you said they were um. pretty well acquainted with each other. uh in the 1910s and 19s. Um most of them. were living in and around Toronto, Canada. Mhm. Toronto, Canada. Don't I. get bagged on for saying that? Uh yeah, like Atlanta, USA. Yeah, that's right. We're doing our best still. We love. Canada and they love us, so they forgive.

us of these indiscretions. Most of them. love us for sure. Yeah, some of them. don't, but you know, there's people. everywhere that don't like us. I don't. agree with that. Where are some places where everybody. likes us? Germany. Yeah, Germans do tend. to like us, huh? Australia. I don't. think there's a single Australian that. doesn't like us. Yeah, I think you're. right. Uh, and there were a couple of. key sort of um employment places and um. institutions that kind of helped foster. this cohesiveness. One was a uh design.

firm called the Grip because most of. these if not all of them at some point. worked for the Grip as commercial. designers and they had a manager there. named Albert Robson that really or. Robson maybe who helped um sort of. foster their outside art, not outsider. art, different thing, but just saying. like, "Hey, we love your design work and. you should also do this other stuff cuz. all boats will rise.". Uh, and then a place called the Arts and. Letters Club, which was a private club, a social club for men, uh, and for. artists in particular. So, they would.

get together with other Canadian. musicians and writers and actors there. Uh, they had patrons there that could. they could get a little juice to help. support themselves, right? Uh, and those. two places were sort of the the nuclei. of which they spun around. Yeah. And um. there was actually a person who you. could kind of point to as the nuclei of. the group in part because he was the. oldest of them. Apparently he was a. father figure to some of the younger. ones. Um but his name was J. Hdonald.

and he was originally born in the UK and. he moved to Ontario when he was a. teenager and he was the first one to. work at the grip all the way back in. 1895. Uh and by the time most of the. other members of the group of seven got. their jobs at the grip, he was already. head designer. Um one of the things that. kind of differentiated him and made it. not surprising but um noteworthy and. remarkable that he was kind of the. center or the head of the group of seven.

is that part of being a member of the. group of seven was getting out there in. nature in rugged country that was way. far away from the cities. And really, you know, like most of the people in. Canada in in the towns did not go north. at that point. So, it was a pretty kind. of rebellious thing to do. And JH. Macdonald was always kind of frail. He. was prone to to falling ill very easily. Um, so he didn't make it on all of these. excursions. And yet he was doing as good. a work as any of them if if not better.

in my opinion in some cases. Yeah, his. stuff is pretty great. Uh, he was a. transcendentalist though. He was he just. got sick a lot. And as as we'll see, he. died fairly young. And he he kept trying. to tell everyone like I really love this. stuff. I'm not an indoor kid. I promise. I I just can't go bushwhacking this. weekend. Well, yeah. One more thing. about him, too. Um I don't know if you. saw this or not, but he had a painting. called Mist Fantasy. Uhhuh. That appears. in The Shining in the background.

Uh which scene do you know? Is it the. famous office interview scene? It's in. the fireplace room. Oh, okay. And then I. think it's also I think it also moves. and is in like the main lobby where Mr. Olman is is giving Jack like the. beginning of the tour. Yeah. So, one of. those uh uh from that documentary that. that probably means something very. significant that that painting is moving. around. That's where I learned about it. from Ice. Scream237 and it's.

ecstream2237.com which man if you want. to deep dive into just mist fantasy and. what it means just start there. Yeah. Okay. Uh there was another guy named and. the these are we're going to kind of. jump around as far as introducing these. people or I guess it's not jumping. around because it's fairly. chronological. Okay. Uh but these are. sort of the pre dudes before it was. official. Uh he McDonald was one. And it. was a guy named Tom Thompson. Yeah. Uh. he was he passed away before the group. was officially founded in 17 1917. It.

was founded in 1920 like I said. So he. was never an official member, but he was. a really influential guy uh in that he. was a one of uh just a few native. Canadians. He was born uh I believe he. was born in Ontario in rural Ontario. Big- time outdoorsman. Uh also worked at. the Grip in 1908. Uh I don't think I. mentioned I mentioned they were design. firm but they mainly worked on design. for department stores. Yeah. So I guess. early Canadian department stores and it.

was at the firm where he met McDonald. and they were like hey we should like uh. get together and start going out in the. woods and sketching and painting. Yeah. So apparently Tom Thompson so he's one. of Canada's most famous artists by far. Um he must have been inherently likable. because I read that he hung around the. arts and letters club even though he. wasn't a member. They didn't kick him. out. Um all of the members who met him. of the group of seven like took him. under their wing because he was a really.

talented artist but didn't have any. formal training. Yeah. So he introduced. the group of seven to the to the. wilderness that became like the basis of. all of their paintings their whole. school. And they taught him in turn. formal techniques. Yeah. That's pretty. cool. Yeah. And his he actually, as. we'll see, he died young at 39. Um, and. his career was very short. It was five. years, but in that five years, he. painted 50 canvases and left behind 400. sketches. And he got really good. And.

sadly, he died just as he was really. starting to get going. Yeah, for sure. That was definitely a um a sad thing. because he was just getting cooking, I. feel like. Yeah, for sure. Uh there's a. guy named Lauren Harris. L A W R E N. Uh. he may be the sec I mean I don't want to. judge how famous they are, but he seems. to be pretty famous. Uh he notably, I. think has sold um at auction the most. valuable painting ever from a Canadian. artist at 11 million bucks. It was.

called Mountain Forms. And I like the. painting. It looks quite a bit. different, I think, than a lot of this. other stuff as far as steering away from. like a uh Van Go like. postimpressionistic look, right? Uh it. looks a little more um graphic designy, but it's super cool. But, you know, 11. million bucks. I know Steve Martin's a. big fan. Yes. Cuz he went to some show. of his I saw on YouTube and was kind of. uh going on about uh his love for. Harris. Yeah. He mounted a touring.

exhibition back in 2015. like he's a big. fan. And one of the other and Harris is. a really good example of this. They a. lot of people consider Lauren Harris the. first um abstract painter in Canada. And. you can kind of make a pretty good. example that the um the group of seven. represents the transition from. traditional painting to modern painting. They're the kind of portal that it goes. through in Canada. And it's really neat. to see their early work before they all.

kind of came together and then to see. starting about 19 191 1920 all of them. start to kind of resemble one another. even though it's very distinct and. different. Yeah. You can see that kind. of through line that really did make. them like a cohesive school. Yeah. I. mean I think that's kind of the point. I. don't even think that that stuff is. necessarily done on purpose. I think. similar sensibilities, hanging out with. each other, ripping each other off. Yeah. Ripping each other off, going to.

place, you know, the same places, you. know, as we'll see. They went on these. excursions. And this guy, he was one of. the more adventurous ones. He went as. far as the uh the Arctic to to paint, you know, in the colder climbs, uh, including that $11 million work as a. snowcap mountain. But he was a rich kid. Uh he was um even though he was born in. Ontario, he was heir to a British. fortune from the Massie Harris Company. that made agricultural equipment. I. think they're still around. He didn't. have to, you know, there's no other way.

to say it. He didn't really have to work. to support himself as an artist. So he. was very free to do his thing. Yeah. And. he was a very dedicated artist, too. So. he wasn't just like, I don't feel like. doing anything today. for some days. He was also heavy into. spiritualism which was pretty. predominant at the time. Remember I. think we did an whole episode on that. Um and so if you put together McDonald's. transcendentalism, Tom. Thompson's exposure of everybody to the.

the woods, Canadian forests, and then. Lauren Harris's nonspirit or. non-religious spiritualism. Those kind. of form like the ethos, ethos. I can. never remember which one it is. I. remember one time I said ethos and we. were on a Zoom call with Scott Arian and. he just kind of said almost to himself. like, "Wow, you got both vowels wrong.". Did he really? Yeah, he did. No way. That's the kind of thing that sticks.

with you. For sure. I'll never forget. it. But I still don't remember which way. to say it. I thought it was always. ethos. So, according to Scott, it would. be ethos. Ethos. Ethos. Yeah. But if you. said ethos, you didn't get both wrong. Yeah. So, so I said no. Ethos, I think, is what? Oh, you said ethos. Both wrong. Yeah. Wow. Okay. I think that was it. Regardless, I I still don't say it. right. I'm sure. And if I do, it's. accidental. Yeah. People know what I'm. saying. Exactly. Yeah. You're Josh.

Clark. We're known for mispronouncing. Yeah, we really are. So, uh, before they got together as a. group, uh, again, which was 1920, uh, they took a pretty formidable trip, uh, in May of 1912 when Thompson and another. staff member at the grip named Harry B. Jackson uh, took this, uh, train from. Toronto to the Algangquin Provincial. Park or to Alangquin Provincial Park. There's no D there. And they just.

started sketching. Um, again, like you. said, uh, at the time, you know, you had. to be pretty adventurous to to start. venturing into those wild clims. Uh, it. was it was rough and rugged territory. So, um, certainly there probably were. not a lot of artists doing that. I mean, there were there have always been. Canadian men and women who were like, "Yeah, I'm I'm very comfortable out. there and it doesn't scare me." But I. think artists to be going out there was. a pretty radical thing. Yeah, for sure. And yeah, these guys are they were.

rebels in their time. You just got to. kind of remember that even though it. retrospectively now you're like what. what's the big deal? But yeah, at the. time this is all very new. It was very. big. And also as we'll see they were. basically making like. in-your-face style of art that just was. not the taste of Canada at the time. Yeah. Um they spent a lot of time in. that park and specifically Thompson at a. certain point he was spending you know. eight months out of the year there. He. left in the winter finally because it.

was it was pretty rough but he really. really loved Al Gangquin Provincial Park. and I think they even um like the uh the. media initially started calling them the. Al Gangquin School uh before they. settled on a name and some really. beautiful paintings came out of that pre. 1920 formation. Yeah. Um, the Jack Pine. is a very very famous painting in. Canada. Um, that was by Tom Thompson. Uh, I think from 1916 is basically when.

he started it. But you can really. clearly see the art nuvo influence that. he developed as a commercial um, graphic. designer. Yeah. Another one is Ay Jackson's The. Red Maple. Yeah. I like Ay Jackson's. work, but I don't like the red maple. But it's about equally famous as the. Jack Pine in Canada. I like that one, too. Again, not for my house, but I. would I would dive into it in a museum. with gusto. They would not like that. The security guards would be on you like. white on rice. Oh, sometimes I just want.

to touch those. Oh, yeah. You can't do. it. No, it's like the call of the void. It is a call of the void. or or yeah, I. could either touch the painting in the. Guggenheim or pull the gun out of the. cop's holster. It was security at the. Guggenheim. Definitely. Um, so one of the things that these guys. did too that was pretty smart is they. got out there in the wilderness, but. it's not like they set up their easels. and were just sitting there painting the. final paintings that they they showed to.

the public. Um, they would do kind of. sketches. Tom Thompson was apparently. very good and prolific at it. I saw that. he captured transient moments of light. and atmosphere by making these sketches. out in the actual like seeing the actual. thing and then just kind of bringing it. back and translating that into the. actual finished canvas. And all of them. basically did that. But yeah, something. about Tom Thompson's eye being. translated to color and texture in his.

paintings was really it was really. something. Yeah, I agree. Um, one of my. favorite things now, and I've noticed. this because, uh, did I tell you Emily. started painting? I know. How awesome. What medium? Uh, paint on canvas. Uh, oil mainly. She dabbled in watercolor a. little bit, but she's mainly painting. oil on canvas. And like she's good. And. it's it's sort of like surprising and. annoying. It's like, oh, okay. So, you. can actually paint. That's that's super. cool. Yeah. But it's um she started take.

you know now they make these little. travel kits that uh or you can do your. own in like an Altoy tin of you know. very small little paint sets uh that can. like fit inside of a notebook and uh she. takes them along and we'll just paint. little things or sketch little things in. in nature because that's mainly what. she's painting. And uh we went on this. last trip when we to went to New York to. see Glen Gary Glenn Ross which was. awesome by the way. I bet uh we went to. the New York Botanical Gardens for the.

first time in the Bronx. We had been to. Brooklyn's and I noticed there were. artists just everywhere sitting on. benches sketching and painting stuff. around them and it's it's just such a. lovely thing to witness cuz it's just so. quiet and peaceful and they're creating. art inside of you know the natural. wonder of nature's art and I just I just. love it. Yeah, I I envy that. I admire. it too. I've always wanted to be able to. at least draw. I mean, since I was a. kid, I was friends with like artists. that could draw, like really like it was. they were just natural talents at it.

And I would just try try try and take. classes and I just couldn't do it. I. couldn't either. My whole family, my. father wasn't, but my mother was an. artist and an art major and a painter. My brother could always draw. I believe. my sister could draw and I can't draw a. stick figure. That's all right. Yeah. Yeah, I was going to say anybody who's. seen my my drawing of a horse on. Instagram knows that I can That was. better than what I could do, I think. Um, oh, also, by the way, if Emily's. making art kits out of Altoid tins, that. makes her a tenator. Chuck, well, she's.

not doing that. She bought a kit, but. from a tenator, I will not be a tenator. because of that episode. Can we just get that one off? Can we. scrub that? I'm sure we can. Should we. also do Scuba Cat? Yeah, those are two that really should. go away. Um, so yeah, we'll we'll look. into that. We'll have to ask Jerry. Should we take a break, by the way? Oh, yeah. I guess we should. We kind of got. away from ourselves, huh? All right, let's take a break. We're going to ask. Jerry if we can scrub a couple of. episodes, but that means we're going to.

have to do two more at the end of our. career, of course. That's fine. Because. we we don't want to short change. ourselves. So, uh, we'll debate all that. and then we'll be back to talk more. about The Group of Seven. [Music]. [Applause]. [Music].

So, um I think with the exception Chuck. of Tom Thompson, all of the rest of the. group of seven artists, all of them over. the years even um were went and studied. in Europe at some point or another. They. were formerly trained. Um I read that uh. Lauren Harris was encouraged by his math. professor to study art in Berlin. No, I'm guessing then that he wasn't very. good at math, right? Yeah. He's.

interested in you like to draw. You play. the piano and all. Can you do anything? Yeah. Um but when they were trained in. Europe, this is the time of the. impressionists. They were trained in. traditional conservative landscapes. Um, and they brought all that back, but they. found to their dismay that they were. having a really hard time translating. the European techniques that they had. learned to the Canadian wilderness. It. just wasn't working quite right. And.

there was a really big important turning. point that happened in 1912 uh when. Lauren Harris and JH Macdonald traveled. to Buffalo, New York to see an art. exhibition of Scandinavian artists and. they were just blown away. It completely. freed them to create the art that went. on to become, you know, synonymous with. them. And I saw that I think McDonald. said that these were these were artists. that were not trying to express. themselves so much as they were trying.

to express something that took hold of. themselves. Oh wow. Yeah. So these pe. these guys were like overwhelmed with. nature and they were painting the the. feeling that nature brought out in them. and that's what the group of seven. started doing. Yeah. That's cool. Uh I. know Van Go is another inspiration in. particular from the European school and. that uh a technique that I really love. uh the impasto technique where you just. goop that paint on there. Yeah. Uh so. you see the brush strokes and in the. case of some of these artists and Van Go.

and of course many others it's you know. when you get up close to these paintings. don't touch but you can lean in and get. a a really good look at uh just how. caked on it is in some places. I just I. really really love that. Yeah. And if. you're really sly, you can kind of touch. it with the tip of your nose and just be. like, "Oops, I got too close." Yeah, sorry. Um, yeah, that jack pine, um, Tom. Thompson's Jack Pine, uh, if you look at. the sky or the lake, you can really see. his use of that. Mhm. It's really it's.

it's a really cool painting. I'm just. going to say it again. Agreed. Um, another, you know, something I've. learned a lot more, having known artists. in my adulthood, is that, uh, a big part. of doing your art is just having a space. to do it. Not everyone can just set up. in their, uh, dining room or whatever. And so, studio space is cherished and. not is sometimes hard to come by, sometimes too expensive. And so, patrons. are very important in that regards. And. there was a guy named Dr. James McCllum. who built uh, a building uh, along with.

Harris, I think funded by James McCllum, right? Uh it was called the studio. building in the Rosedale neighborhood of. Toronto. And that was a real sort of um. cohesion uh cohesive thing. Mhm. Cohesion unit. Is that a thing? Yeah. Like a rank leader. Yeah. It was like. two units of cohesion when they built. that building for sure. Which is not. there anymore, unfortunately. I think. they built a high-rise apartment over. it. Um but they tore it down first and. then built the high-rise apartment. But.

during the time, I think well into the. 50s, this was still a thriving artist. studio and it was cheap um. apartments as well. Uh I saw that Tom. Thompson was so broke that he couldn't. even afford the subsidized rent for the. artist's apartment at the um at the. studio. So again, he was so likable. James Macallum built him a shed out back. and charged him a dollar a month for it. Yeah. But they would uh you know,

Canadians are known for being nice, but. they would bag on him. They'd say, "Man, you're so broke, you can't pay. attention." Well, that's a good one. And. then they all started coming up with, you know, you're so broke joke. How have. I made it almost 49 years without having. heard that one? Have you not heard that. one? No. Uh that's the only broke one I. know. But yeah, I introduced Ruby to. that whole uh that you know those kind. of jokes. It burns your your mama jokes. and stuff that you know, playground. burns. It was pretty fun for sure. Your. mom was so old she owes Jesus a nickel.

Wow. Did you ever hear that one? No. Wow. I really wasn't paying attention on. the playground apparently. I was I. couldn't make these up. Of course. I was. I was just trying to copy the the the. great artists of the playground for. sure. But I mean I still haven't heard. them and you you say them just. beautifully. I appreciate I got a lot. more. I I'll trot them out here and. there moving forward. Okay. Good. Good. So, we talked about Tom Thompson dying. and this was a really big deal, right? It was uh another big deal was World War. I. Oh, yeah. Uh that came along and, you.

know, was a big disruption because a lot. of it it certainly delayed the. formation, the official formation of the. group right there in the late. 19s. Uh but they a lot of them actually. served in the war in some capacity. Um, a lot of them worked for the uh, Canadian War Memorials Fund and they. were producing art about the war. Um, some of which was super cool. Uh, I. don't know if we should talk about it. now or later, but the uh, well, maybe.

let's hang on to that. Okay. The the the. dazzle camouflage. Mhm. Yeah. Arthur. Lismer stuff. Yeah, we'll hold on to. that. It is cool. Um, so yeah, one of. the things that I think also cemented. Tom Thompson's reputation as one of. Canada's most famous artists is that he. died under what some people consider. mysterious causes. Like this guy was. born in rural Ontario. He was an avid. outdoorsman. He spent so much time up in. the Canada, the Canadian forests, I.

guess around Alangquin or. Alum that he would be a fishing guide. sometimes. He served as a park ranger. He just he was just there. So, we might. as well do that extra stuff. And he went. out one day in a canoe and his canoe was. found overturned later that day or the. next day. And he was missing. His body. was found, I think, eight days later. And um he had like a bump and a a bruise. on the side of his face. And some people. are like, "Well, yeah, he just was stood. up in the canoe and like fell out and.

like hit his head and then drowned." And. other people are like, "You didn't know. Tom Thompson then because number one, he. would never do something that stupid.". And number two, see number one. Yeah. Uh. I mean, it's hard to tell how fishy that. might have been. It very well could have. been an accident, but uh it's also very. easy to say like an experienced. outdoorsman like that wouldn't have died. that way, but it was officially declared. an accidental drowning. Uh some people. theorize that he may have uh killed.

himself uh if he wasn't murdered. uh. because he uh got his girlfriend. pregnant, but I couldn't really see a. lot of like solid evidence other than. just people surmising. Yeah. There was. like one or two people over the years. who like wrote a book or something like. that and kept the whole thing alive. Yeah. But it was a really big deal to. the group of seven. They hadn't even. formed yet and they lost one of their. members already. Um and this was the guy. who introduced them to the wild. He was. inherently likable guy. They were really.

bummed out about it, but they still. carried on. Um, you know, I think at. least in part out of tribute to Tom. Thompson, but also because they had. really come to appreciate what he. introduced them to. Yeah, for sure. Uh, that also led to another sort of uh, if. not tragedy, like setback when McDonald. uh, was helping to build a memorial. Kairen uh, at the at Canoe Lake where he. died. And McDonald collapsed because,

you know, as we said, he was a pretty. frail guy. May have had a stroke uh but. recovered uh within a few months uh well. enough at least that he was able to um. go on this this painting trip. You. mentioned Al uh in Ontario. They went. there. Uh Frank Johnston, who was uh he. would be another one of the the OGs as. far as the group members go, and Dr. McCullum, who funded that studio, they. all went along on this trip. Yeah. Yeah. So, they went on box car journeys.

because Lauren Harris so cool. Yeah. Lauren Harris was so rich he went to uh. one of the railroads and said, "Hey, give us a box car, will you?" And they. said, "Sure, Mr. Harris, whatever you. want." So, they took a box car and. outfitted it, refurbished it with to. basically turned it into a traveling. studio and artist quarters. Yeah, it. sounds like super cool. I mean, it had a. stove. It had furniture. Uh, and they. could move it around to the different uh. rail sightings and hang out and stay.

Then had a little home base there with. some some warm uh some warmth warmth to. it. Sure. And the Wild River was painted. there, which is one of McDonald's uh. biggest most popular paintings, and that. was in 1919. And it is very gorgeous as. well. It is. I don't remember that one. I had so many tabs open and looked at so. much art that I couldn't remember that. But I I I don't think there was many. paintings that I was like, "That's a. real dog." Right. Except for that one. painting of the dog, the real one,

right? Yeah. Uh so by this time 1919's. rolling around, they've been on box car. journeys. They've lost Tom Thompson. They've gone out in the wild a few. times. They've really kind of gotten. into this new modernist interpretation. of landscapes, specifically Canadian. landscapes, to to basically create this. new art identity of Canada. It's like a. nationalistic art movement. And um they. mounted their first exhibition uh from.

the from at least one or more of those. box car journeys. And I think there was. something like 200 canvases. Um, and it. did not go over all that well actually. Yeah. I mean, there were some critics. who didn't love it. Uh, some people did. like it, but that was just a key. exhibition because it it was their first. one as a group. And that was when, and. this was in 1919, that's when uh within. the group, they were like, you know, we. should officially like call ourselves a.

school and form an official like the. Avengers. need to get together and be an. official group because it'll probably. just help our reputation, get us a. little more press. Yeah. Uh in February, March of 1920, they did. So, uh Jackson. was not there. He was on one of his. sketching trips at the time, and he came. home and said that he he learned that it. had been formed and that I was a member. Yeah. We haven't met Jackson yet. This. is a different Jackson than the one that. went on that first trip with Tom. Thompson. This was a Jackson. Well, we.

we we introduced him. Oh, we did? I. didn't remember that cuz I almost made. the joke that did they call him a Yeah. A but I didn't like the fs. Yeah. Ay. Jackson. Uh who actually he lived I. think the longest. Yeah. He he lived all. the way until 1974. Nice. Uh ripe old. age. Um he was born in Montreal. Uh had. a single mom with six or five other. siblings total. Six. And as a result he. had to work a lot to support his family.

uh but eventually found his way to. Europe where he uh was one of the ones. like you said that studied uh like. formally in Europe which he did in. France before he moved back to Ontario. in 1913. Yeah. And thanks to Dr. James. McCollum uh he was able to move to. Toronto because uh he was not very well. off at the time and McCollum said, "How. about this? I will buy all of your. paintings that you produce in a year to. keep you afloat essentially." And that. gave a Jackson the ability to come to. Toronto, start working, painted 600.

things, right? And and make a name for. himself in time to be able to support. himself through his art. Yeah. And he. had that Montreal connection. So he sort. of Montreal artists would he'd make. connections with the group of seven. Uh. again, you know, artists knowing each. other and sharing ideas and just um. sensibilities, ethos if you will, uh is. a good thing. Uh but he was one of the. ones that went over with World War I uh. to fight. He was actually wounded there. Um, and also painted for Canadian war.

memorials. Yeah. Another guy who painted. for Canadian war memorials that you. mentioned earlier was Arthur Lismer. Yeah. Uh, he was famous for painting. warships that were returning to port. that had dazzle camouflage on them, which essentially is like OP art painted. on warships. Yeah. I had never heard of. this before. Had you? No. Huh. It's. super cool. It's a way for uh it it's. not, you know, camouflage in the way. that it's supposed to blend in with the. sea around it. In fact, far from it. It.

doesn't do anything like that, right? Uh. like you said, it looks like cool pop. art, you know, painted on a on a. warship. Like could it almost looks like. some weird art installation and not a. real thing that the Navy did. Uh, but. the intention there again is not to like. conceal it like it's not there, but to. confuse uh and mislead about like the. course heading or something up like that. or like how fast they're going uh or. Yeah, like I said, where they're headed. and apparently it worked pretty good. Yeah, they look like disjointed zebra.

stripes that in they're in different. chunks that don't line up with one. another. Yeah. So, that's on the actual. ship and he painted paintings of these. ships and they're really cool looking. I. love it. Yeah. And Arthur Lismer is one. of those painters whose style seemingly. changed overnight around 1920 and really. falls into line with the rest of the. group. So it's pretty cool. Yeah. Uh I. guess we'll go over the last three here. We have Frederick Varley uh who lived. till 1969. So I think he was the lived. the second longest. Uh he was a.

schoolmate of Lismmers in England. And I. think we did mention that they both. studied in Antworp, Belgium. Mhm. Uh, and then he reconnected with Lismer. after living in Yorkshire and getting. married. And he was like, Lismer's like, "Come on over to Canada, man." And he. did so in 1912, went to work at the Grip. like a lot of them, and also painted for. the war memorials. Yeah. He was actually. embedded uh in Europe with the Canadian. military. So, a lot of his paintings. that he made during the war were like.

bombed out villages or like I read that. he one of his paintings was a shelled um. cemetery to basically say like even the. dead can't escape war. Um it's some. harrowing stuff that he produced for. sure. And I think he was he was very. affected by the war I should say. Yeah. Uh to answer your question, who else we. have is my favorite by far of the group? Frankie. Franklin Carmichael. Yeah. And. you were saying you wouldn't hang any of. these in your home. I would hang a.

Carmichael. Basically any of them. Yeah, I I agree actually. And that that's some. of my favorite stuff, too. And I might I. might hang some of the other stuff. Maybe I was being too harsh. Hang it. all. So, he had kind of a more. decorative sens sensibility. I saw it. described as he used more colorful, softer colors. Um it like just go look up Franklin. Carmichael art and you will just sit. there and watch it all day. Yeah, he did. more watercolors than the rest of them. Uh but did work in other mediums. Uh and.

then rounding out we have Frank Johnston. uh born in Toronto. So another one of. Canadians sons and he worked at the grip. as well and he's I think the only one. that actually studied in the United. States. Um he went there for a little. while, studied there, uh did some work. there and then went back to Toronto in. 1915 and uh he was known for his opaque. uh watercolor techniques. So he was kind. of, you know, watercolor is quicker. So. he was pumping out paintings much.

quicker than the rest of these guys. Yeah, I saw he contributed 60 of the 200. canvases that were at that first show. That's amazing. He also, this is so. artist, he was born Francis Hans. Johnston. And later on in life, he com. he compressed that to France. Oh wow. Hans and France. Pretty cool. Yeah, exactly. Uh maybe we should take another. break. Yes. And we'll be back with more. art. [Music].

[Applause]. [Music]. [Applause]. [Music]. All right. So, we've talked about 1920. and what happened over and over again, but finally on May 7th is when the. official unified school opened at the.

Art Gallery of Toronto with 120. paintings. And uh this is like. definitely when critics kind of some of. them poo pooed it. Uh one described some. of the paintings as looking like the. contents of a drunkard's stomach. Uh and. I think this was maybe more just because. it was a departure from the traditional. art. Yeah. Uh they got popular pretty. quickly. I think their second show in. May of 21 drew about 2500 people over. just uh 3 weeks and change. So people. got on board pretty quickly. Yeah, for.

sure. again because in part this is that. they were painting Canada's national. identity. Um that's right. One of the. other things I don't know if I've made. that point yet. I think a few more times. it might get it home. One of the other. things that was really big about this um. this show was that the uh director of. the National Gallery of all of Canada. bought at least three of their works. His name was Eric Brown. And in addition. to basically insconcing them in Canada's. National Gallery saying like these guys.

are legit. this is the real deal. He put. them in other exhibitions that Canada. put on around the world and he would. really play a big role later on um. during World War I and two as we'll see. Yeah. And he, you know, he was a patron. of the arts. He loved these guys, but he. was also criticized at times later by. just solely being into these guys and. like, hey, you're not uh championing the. work of women as much as you should or. our indigenous artists. So, uh, you.

know, he was he was criticized for that. That's all I'll say for sure. Um, so the. group is kind of like rolling by now. Um, they're doing more journeys. They're. meeting once in a while to basically set. up exhibitions. Um, Fron Johnston leaves. and they're like, "Well, god, we're the. group of seven. We need to get a. seventh." They bring in a guy named AJ. Cassen, um, who used to be Franklin Carmichael's. assistant. They're like, "Okay, let's. just break the trend and and bring in an.

eighth member." So, they brought in a. guy named Edwin Holgate. He was brought. in in 1929. Yeah. He was a portraitist, which was a little different from the. rest of them, for sure. Uh, he had also. formed another group in Montreal called. the Beaver Hall Group, which is a pretty. good group name. Yeah, great name. Uh, and then Le Moine Fitzgerald, who you. could call the Jinx. He was brought on. in 1932. The group broke up in 1933. So, the Jinx missed their last exhibition in.

1931 and then he was there for their. breakup the year after he was brought on. board. Yeah, that's that's too bad for. Le Moine, but he got a brief taste. Uh, and then, you know, he he lived until. 1956, so he was still painting after. that. Uh we did mention a woman Emily. Carr near the beginning as like you know. this is a boy club but she was never. official uh officially group of seven. because of that but they did feature her. works uh in some of their shows one in. 1927 in particular and that's when they.

you know they kind of pulled her aside. and they were like hey you know you're. really you're one of us like it might. not be official but you're definitely. one of us but don't tell anybody. Yeah. Exactly. Don't tell anyone. and she um. painted a lot of uh indigenous villages. and stuff like that. Yeah. And at one. point was doing indigenous art like. hooked rugs and pottery and selling it. to tourists. But yeah, she like even way. back then was like, "Wait a minute. Maybe I'm appropriating this." They. didn't use that word, I'm sure, but she. she stopped doing it. She was like, "This is not a culture I'm a part of, so.

maybe I shouldn't be doing it and. selling it." Yeah. That lady was ahead. of even NPR. Yeah. Yeah. Or what what's Canada's. version of NPR? CBC. Oh, right. Of. course. Um, so all good things must come. to an end. And one of the things that I. think you can give a a nod to the Group. of Seven about is they're like, "Hey, this thing's run its course. Let's just. disband." So, they actually disbanded. They they they had a formal disbanding, I think, in in again in 1933.

Mhm. It was Le Moine's fault again. Uh, part of it was that McDonald had um. died in 1932 and again he was kind of. like the guy who was who the original. the the figurehead I think. Papa Smurf. Yeah, that was part of it. They thought. it had run its course, but they were. also now starting to get real push back, not just them, but also the National. Gallery and Eric Brown saying like, you. know, there's other there's other. artists in Canada. Can we kind of.

include them? There's other parts of. Canada besides the northern boreal. forest. Yeah. And because of that, they. actually stepped back. They disbanded. the group of seven and then they. regrouped and expanded to the Canadian. group of painters which started out with. 28 artists and eventually grew to 61. total over the years. And this one. included women. Yes. They they expanded. it uh greatly at that point. Um the one. of the reasons that you know they're.

obviously uh famous because they were. you know Canadian through and through. and what they were doing and where they. were living and some of them where they. were from. But they uh in World War II. the Canadian government uh got involved. to do this silkcreen uh program where. they silk screen prints of this art and. they put them up in their buildings and. their government buildings and then put. them up for sale and Eric Brown was. behind behind that as well. And that. that really just cemented them because. all of a sudden people were like buying.

the stuff and putting it on their own. walls as prints. Yeah. They were in. banks. They were in schools. Apparently. Arthur Lismer, one of the original group. of seven was in charge in part of. selecting images. So yeah, the group of. seven was disproportionately represented. in this. And that is one reason why they. are so imshed in Canad Canada's artistic. psyche. Like this is Canadian art. This. is the foundation of it. That's a big. part of it. Yeah. Because you could get. it at the Spencer Gifts all of a sudden.

Yes. And you could you could also make a. an argument that they were selected for. this cheap silk screen reproduction. because the colors, the bold colors, the. shapes, um the contours of the whole. thing. It they it was ripe for. reproduction through screen printing. Yeah, for sure. It looked good on a. screen print. Uh Emily Carr was not. chosen. Uh, in fact, no women were. chosen and I think no artists that. painted uh the coastlines of Canada were. chosen and no work by indigenous artists.

as well uh or work that depicted their. community. So again, uh some controversy. surrounding that stuff obviously that. kind of thing today would be handled a. lot differently, but this was again back. in the you know mid1 1940s when they. started the the silk screening. Yeah. But it was interesting that they were. still criticized for that kind of stuff. even even back then. You know, people. were aware of it for sure. Yeah, totally. Uh but yeah, if you want to. waste some time, uh well wasted I should.

say, go check out the group. of7.ca and they have bios and like a lot. of selected art. Um or just look up. these artists and type in artist name. works and just look at all the amazing. stuff that comes up. It's it's good. stuff. I'm glad you you found this one. or picked it or it was suggested. I'm. not sure. Uh I think I had just heard of. him and Olivia helped us out and it's I. love learning more and more about art. here later in life. Me too, Chuck. In my.

50s. Uh well, since Chuck said he's in his. 50s, of course that means he's just. unlocked listener mail. Mid-50s. When are you 50? I will be 50. the July after next. And I don't care. because 40s suck. Yeah, it's the worst decade so far at least. But I've heard it just gets better after. your 40s. That the your life. satisfaction dips in the 40s and starts.

to climb back up and peaks again in your. 60s and that that is comparable to your. younger years, the the peak of. happiness. So, we have a lot to look. forward to, man. Yeah. Just just get. ready. Yeah. We're going to be. podcasting the whole time. That's right. Uh, all right. This is a positive. correction about fentinil. Uh, by the. way, we got some props for just saying. fentinyl, not fentinol. Right. Uh, Josh. noted if you go to prison, you're. expected to simply dry out and hopefully. recover that way. Uh, that is not the. case, guys. I teach in a correctional.

facility in Indiana. I'm happy to report. that our prisons give incarcerated. individuals or I eyes the option to take. uh Suboxone in a controlled environment. at a certain time each day. The II and. the program are sent to our medical. department and given Suboxone in order. to help with their treatment. Uh this. has helped those who struggle with. addiction, but it's important to note. that it can be addictive leading to. potential abuse as well. Uh Suboxone. compared with recovery programs has. helped a lot of my students and I found. uh I've been very fortunate to see some. people turn their lives around through.

this. Uh and we heard from a couple of. other correctional um workers from. different states that do the same thing. So it sounds like it's sort of the norm. Yeah, that's heartening. Yeah, that's. great to hear. Uh, additionally, guys, I. appreciate that you cleared up some. misconceptions about fentinil. I can. confirm that those ideas still impact. law enforcement as our officers are. required to wear gloves during cell. searches in order to prevent absorbing. fentinel through the skin. Uh, thanks. for providing years of knowledge in a. relaxed and fun manner. Thanks for. coming to Indianapolis. I was at the.

show and it was great. It was a good. show. And that is from Samuel, adult. basic education instructor. Thanks, Samuel. You're out there doing God's. work. Congratulations to you and thank. you for it. Uh, and if you want to be. like Samuel and gently correct us, we. love that kind of thing. You can send it. via email to stuffodcast@. iheartradio.com. Stuff you should know. is a production of iHeart Radio. For. more podcasts, iMheart Radio, visit the. iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or.

wherever you listen to your favorite. shows. [Music].