CLOSE TO HOME

In the early twentieth century members of the Group of Seven rose to prominence for their expressive landscape paintings of remote places across Canada, making now iconic works in Algoma, the Rocky Mountains, the Artic, and beyond. But not all of their dazzling works were made in these far-off places. Several members of the Group found inspiration in rural sites across Southern Ontario, sometimes painting in our own backyard.

Close to Home brings together paintings, drawings, and prints created in and around Kleinburg, Vaughan, Thornhill, North York, Markham, Bolton, Orillia, Barrie, and neighbouring locales. These works reflect the deep connections several Group members had to the region: J.E.H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, and Fred Varley all lived for a time in Thornhill; Franklin Carmichael grew up in Orillia and later lived in Lansing (North York); and Lawren Harris’s family maintained a property at Allandale on Lake Simcoe. From these vantage points, the artists produced bold, colourful works both en plein air and in their studios, often focusing on agricultural life, brilliant autumn foliage, and the ever-changing southern Ontario sky.

The exhibition also features ink drawings by Thoreau MacDonald, capturing houses and streetscapes across these communities, alongside dynamic woodcuts by Rosemary Kilbourn that evoke the rolling hills of Caledon. Together, these works demonstrate the lasting artistic pull of this region and the inspiration its landscapes continue to offer.

In the century since these artworks were created, many of the rural villages, farmlands, and woodlands they depict have transformed into thriving towns and expanding suburbs. Viewed today, they invite us not only to reflect on the region’s past but also to appreciate the beauty that still exists in the landscapes closest to home.