There's a major exhibition of the paintings of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven on at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. The gallery itself is southeast of Brixton, a longish bus ride from Oxford Circus past Brixton's rough shabbiness and into southern parks and schools. It has quite a history, beginning in the early 19th century, and is in fact in delighted possession of a guestbook signed by Vincent Van Gogh.
The Canadian exhibit is a large one with quite a few cnvasses of Thomson, McDonald, and Varley, as well as a number of the other group members. As always "live" canvasses are so different in effect from the reproductions. I'm struck by an odd echo of Gauguin - something in the colours and the rawness, though many of the smaller (and later?) ones have a much more Group of Seven feel. It's difficult to talk about early or late Thomson when he died at 40. I grew up with the reproductions on the wall, though, courtesy of Thomson's nephew, who was a friend of my parents'.
Several of the artists, including Thomson, have twinned pictures, small and large, with the small picture (8"x10"?) functioning as a sketch done in oils, though perhaps with a limited palette. Probably a way of rememberingcolour. One small Thomson, though with no accompanying large version, has glowing tamarack trees. We're also taken wit a large canvas by Johnston showing Kenora from the water, its profile in the distance. There are a few of Lawren Harris's paintings as well, some of them looking a generation more modern, with simpler colours and cleaner lines. There are quite a few viewers at the exhibition - a mixed British and Canadian lot, judging by accent.
Outside the Dulwich Gallery, the grounds are treed and the leaves echo the autumn paintings inside, especially the red maple lea shaped ones of some young gum trees.
The Canadian exhibit is a large one with quite a few cnvasses of Thomson, McDonald, and Varley, as well as a number of the other group members. As always "live" canvasses are so different in effect from the reproductions. I'm struck by an odd echo of Gauguin - something in the colours and the rawness, though many of the smaller (and later?) ones have a much more Group of Seven feel. It's difficult to talk about early or late Thomson when he died at 40. I grew up with the reproductions on the wall, though, courtesy of Thomson's nephew, who was a friend of my parents'.
Several of the artists, including Thomson, have twinned pictures, small and large, with the small picture (8"x10"?) functioning as a sketch done in oils, though perhaps with a limited palette. Probably a way of rememberingcolour. One small Thomson, though with no accompanying large version, has glowing tamarack trees. We're also taken wit a large canvas by Johnston showing Kenora from the water, its profile in the distance. There are a few of Lawren Harris's paintings as well, some of them looking a generation more modern, with simpler colours and cleaner lines. There are quite a few viewers at the exhibition - a mixed British and Canadian lot, judging by accent.
Outside the Dulwich Gallery, the grounds are treed and the leaves echo the autumn paintings inside, especially the red maple lea shaped ones of some young gum trees.