Opening Reception 7:30pm March 30

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Frederick Horsman Varley: Dawn, 1929 Oil on wood panel Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver Art Galley Acquisition Fund. Photo: Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery

This exhibition of 30 sketches in oil paint by the Group of Seven is on loan from the Vancouver Art Gallery with the generous support of The Rix Family Foundation.

The artists of the seminal Canadian landscape school used the sketch as a fundamental tool in their artistic process. The Group of Seven aimed to foster a distinctively Canadian art? to capture and explore the ruggedness of the Canadian wilderness and the spirit of its people. This project would take the artists out of the studio and into the landscape on a series of sketching trips. Sketching not only offered the practical means to document the landscape for later elaboration,the 'on the spot' process also encouraged experiments with new subjects, forms, and techniques.

This exhibition includes oil sketches by all seven original members of the Group: Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Franklin Carmichael, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald and Fred Varley, and features works ranging from the period the Group was together to later individual experiments in abstraction and beyond.

Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Franklin Carmichael, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald and Fred Varley
Dawn: Sketches by the Group of Seven
March 31 to June 23 2006

Need to get out of the office? Spend your lunch hour at the Gallery! Join our Curator, George Harris, for an informal tour of our new exhibitions.

Enjoy the opportunity to gain new insight into the art. The tour begins at 12:10pm on Wednesday, June 14 Hope to see you there!