Art Gallery Past Exhibition

DAWN:Sketches by the Group of Seven
(July 11 - October 4, 2008)
Organized and circulated by the Vancouver Art Gallery

Dawn: Sketches by the Group of Seven explores how Canada's seminal landscape painters used the oil sketch as a fundamental tool in their artistic process. In their attempts to capture and explore the ruggedness of the Canadian wilderness, the Group utilized Canada's backcountry as their studio, taking paints, brushes and small panels into the wilds on a series of sketching trips.

Dawn includes oil sketches by all seven original members of the Group of Seven, including Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Franklin Carmichael, Francis Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald and Frederick Varley. The exhibition features works from the Vancouver Art Gallery's permanent collection ranging from the period the Group was together to later individual experiments in abstraction and beyond.