New Stamps Feature Group of Seven

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J.E.H. MacDonald, "Church by the Sea," 1924

oil on canvas (collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, gift of H. Mortimer-Lamb; photo by Rachel Topham, VAG)

A new series of seven Canada Post stamps celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Group of Seven's first exhibition in 1920.

Among the series is Church by the Sea, by J.E.H. MacDonald, a founding member of the Group of Seven. It was donated to the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1924, the same year it was completed.

MacDonald responded to the Canadian landscape with a sensitivity honed by his interest in the American writers Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman, the gallery notes. One of Canada’s leading graphic designers and a popular art teacher, MacDonald was also a poet and calligrapher.

“One of the reasons that this work was chosen is that it encapsulates remarkably the sense of spirituality that many of the Group of Seven had in relation to the landscape,” says Ian Thom, the gallery's senior curator emeritus.

“Here we see the church, suggesting traditional spirituality, embedded within a strongly stylized landscape. The building, while important, is dwarfed by the expanse of nature. It is an image that was important to MacDonald because he used a simplified version of the composition as one of the images that he contributed to the portfolio, Canadian Drawings by the Group of Seven, published by Rous & Mann in 1925. It is an evocative and striking image that suggests both the power of nature and the power of the human spirit.”

The other six works featured on the new stamps are:

• In the Nickel Belt (1928) by Franklin Carmichael
• Miners' Houses, Glace Bay (circa 1925) by Lawren Harris
• Labrador Coast (1930) by A.Y. Jackson
• Fire-swept, Algoma (1920) by Frank Johnston
• Quebec Village (1926) by Arthur Lismer
• Stormy Weather, Georgian Bay (1921) by F.H. Varley

The Group of Seven is among the most important Canadian collectives of the early 20th century. Their works romanticized Canadian strength and independence and were noted for their bright colours and simple yet dynamic forms. 

Source: Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada Post