Artist Info
Arthur Lismer
Arthur Lismer was renowned as a painter, educator, and founding member of the Group of Seven artists. He was born in Sheffield, England, and apprenticed at age 13 with a photo-engraving company. Awarded a scholarship, he attended evening classes at the Sheffield School of Art (1899-1906), then spent one year at the Royal Academy, Antwerp, Belgium.
He came to Canada in 1911, where he worked as a commercial illustrator in Toronto. At the Grip Engraving Company he met other painters, some of whom would also become Group of Seven members: J.E.H. McDonald, Tom Thomson, F.H. Johnston and Franklin Carmichael. In 1913, they made their first painting trip to Algonquin Park and the Georgian Bay area, where the unique character of the Canadian landscape convinced the group that a distinct painting style was needed to capture it. After spending three years in Halifax serving as principal of the Victoria School of Art and Design (now NSCAD), and painting returning troopships for the Canadian War Records, Lismer returned to Toronto, where the Group of Seven was formed in 1920.
Lismer’s early paintings showed the influence of the French Barbizon School and the Belgian Post-Impressionists of his youth. During the 1920s, however, he developed a more Expressionist style of his own, using raw colours, impasto technique, looser brushstrokes and simplified forms. He visited and painted the west of Canada, including the Rocky Mountains, in 1928. After 1930, he produced his most original works, first in the Maritimes and Georgian Bay, later on Vancouver Island. His works showed the spiritual connection with landscape that typified the G7 artists. He was always an active promoter of Group of Seven, writing many articles on Canadian art.
Much of Lismer’s career was devoted to teaching. Between the 1920s and the 60s, he served as vice principal of OCAD, educational supervisor at the Art Gallery of Toronto (now the AGO), taught and set up school programs in South Africa, and ran the Montreal Children’s Art Centre. He was also involved in education at the National Gallery of Canada and taught at McGill University. He was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1967. His paintings hang in every major museum in Canada. He is buried alongside other members of the Original Seven in the grounds of the McMichael Gallery, Ontario.
