That's when Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven opens at London's Dulwich Picture Gallery. The exhibition of 122 landscapes -- most displayed with their original sketches -- includes not only iconic works from public institutions (the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the McMichael Canadian Collection, to name a few) but also a significant number of seldom-seen paintings from private lenders.
Dulwich director Ian Dejardin is the exhibit's lead curator. A long-time fan of the ground-breaking Canadian artists, Dejardin hand-selected each painting -- everything from Thomson's The Jack Pine and The West Wind to Fred Varley's Stormy Weather, Georgian Bay, to Lawren Harris' Isolation Peak.
In Toronto recently to promote the show, Dejardin said the works are extraordinary not only for their originality and sense of place but also because of the rigours faced by the artists. Not many painters had to "carry a canoe" through the woods or venture into "wilderness" to follow their muse.
Dejardin said the exhibit is "huge" for Dulwich -- some 30,000 people are expected to visit -- and will be the highlight of the gallery's 200-anniversary celebrations. He called the generosity shown by lending institutions "startling."
"We asked for the crown jewels ... it was a little like asking the Louvre for the Mona Lisa -- and you agreed!"
Dejardin confesses to having particular admiration for Thomson's work. And the painter's sketchbox will have pride of place at the entrance to the exhibit, which "begins with Tom Thomson and ends with Lawren Harris ... with a wonderful journey in between."
In addition to the show, Dulwich has hired Liz Jory as a Canadian Teaching Artist in Residence, and there is a trans-Canada blog by Julian Beecroft, who is travelling across the country visiting the landscapes that were the inspiration for the paintings (see dulwichonview.org.uk). A mobile app will soon be released that will take users on an artistic cyber-tour.
The show continues through Jan. 8 in London, then travels to the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo (Jan. 29-May 13) and the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands (June 3-Oct. 28).
