Group of Seven Matted Print – A. Y. Jackson – The Red Maple McMichael Canadian Art Collection

This iconic Canadian painting is in the collection at the National Gallery of Canada, and is reproduced with copyright permission. Therefore the colours are true to the original. Professionally matted with 2″ archival matte.

Image size: 8 1/4″ x 10 1/8″, matted to 14 3/8″ x 12 1/2″ Available for local delivery only in Cambridge, Stratford, and surrounding areas. No shipping is available.

The Artist: Alexander Young (A.Y.)  Jackson (1882-1974) was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. At just 12 years olds, his father left, and he had to leave school to help support his family. After many years working at printing firms in Montreal, he began studying art at the Art Institute in Chicago, and later at the Académie Julian in Paris, remaining in France until 1909. Back in Montreal his painting led him to Lawren Harris and J. E. H. MacDonald, and he moved to Toronto in 1913. The following year, he shared space with Tom Thomson in the Studio Building on Severn Street. The First World War changed the direction of the lives of the painters. Jackson enlisted, was wounded and spent 1917-1919 as a war artist, capturing the devastation and tragedy of the Great War. On his return to Canada, he travelled and painted with other members of what would become the famous Group of Seven, who formed officially in 1920 for their first exhibition held in Toronto. Jackson’s active participation in seven other Group exhibitions, and in many contemporary shows, including the controversial British Empire Exhibition in Wembley, England in 1924, “ensured that his images of a rolling, unpopulated land became indelibly imprinted on the Canadian consciousness”. In 1933, Jackson founded the Canadian Group of Painters, which included former Group of Seven members. He taught at the Ontario College of Art (Now the Ontario College of Art and Design University) and at the Banff School of Fine Arts. He spent his final years as artist-in-residence at the McMichael Gallery (now the McMichael Canadian Art Collection) in Kleinburg, Ontario, where he is buried along with five other members of the Group. A Companion of the Order of Canada and recipient of a medal for lifetime achievement from the Royal Canadian Academy, A.Y. Jackson, as a leading member of the Group of Seven, helped to remake the visual image of Canada.