PAINTING: Emily Carr, seminal Canadian ethnographer and painter

 I can hear the
Rhine Maidens'
far-away echo,
grieving the 
inevitable rape
of our earthly
home.




I learned about Emily Carr when I was exploring the Canadian landscape painters called "The Group of Seven". 

She documented the Native American tribal cultures of Canada, frequently painting their totems and other craftwork. A current exhibit at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria documents her life, work, and influence on the next generation of artists.

Steve Martin recently curated an exhibition at the Hammer on Lawren Harris, which focussed attention on this fascinating art group.  Their work is dynamic, lyrical, celebratory; images of American landscape unplundered, unspoiled by fracking and gas pipelines.

secret fracking dumping operation disposing of waste fluids  in Canada

The Group of Seven, also known as the Algonquin School, was a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933, originally consisting of Franklin Carmichael (1890–1945), Lawren Harris(1885–1970), A. Y. Jackson (1882–1974), Frank Johnston (1888–1949), Arthur Lismer (1885–1969), J. E. H. MacDonald (1873–1932), and Frederick Varley (1881–1969). Later, A. J. Casson (1898–1992) was invited to join in 1926; Edwin Holgate (1892–1977) became a member in 1930; and LeMoine FitzGerald (1890–1956) joined in 1932.

Two artists commonly associated with the group are Tom Thomson (1877–1917) and Emily Carr(1871–1945). Although he died before its official formation, Thomson had a significant influence on the group. In his essay "The Story of the Group of Seven", Harris wrote that Thomson was "a part of the movement before we pinned a label on it"; Thomson's paintings The West Wind and The Jack Pine are two of the group's most iconic pieces.^[1] Emily Carr was also closely associated with the Group of Seven, though was never an official member.

Believing that a distinct Canadian art could be developed through direct contact with nature,^[2] the Group of Seven is best known for its paintings inspired by the Canadian landscape, and initiated the first major Canadian national art movement.^[3] The Group was succeeded by the Canadian Group of Painters in the 1933, which included members from the Beaver Hall Group who had a history of showing with the Group of Seven internationally.^{[4][5]   (from Wikipedia).}

Another artist I include in this genre is Rockwell Kent, an unusual 

illustrator and painter who lived in Alaska and Greenland,

an Ayn Rand caricature well known for marvelous illustrations for an 

edition of "Moby Dick".  His work is  reductive, frozen, 

filled with germanic, gothic Wagnerian grandeur.