Grace Lake 1934

Franklin Carmichael made this watercolor landscape, Grace Lake, sometime in the first half of the 20th century. Carmichael was a founding member of the Group of Seven, a collection of Canadian landscape painters from Toronto. As a group, they sought to develop a distinctly Canadian style of painting, rather than imitating European styles, and they believed that the character of Canada was to be found in its rugged, unspoiled wilderness. They wanted to create an overtly nationalist art that would represent Canada as modern and sophisticated on an international stage. Carmichael's Grace Lake embodies many of these values. He evokes an overwhelming sense of place, of the sweeping Canadian landscape. It is interesting to examine how the Group of Seven contributed to early twentieth-century Canadian nationalism and also how their work impacted the development of Canadian art institutions.