Abstracting the Landscape

Landscape paintings by members of the Group of Seven and David B. Milne form an integral part of the permanent art collection of University College. Works by these artists are often valued for the artists’ desire to capture and create a sense of Canadian national identity, but also for their sheer painterly expressiveness. This installation of nineteen works highlights these painterly qualities by bringing together work from the University College and University of Toronto Art Collections by members of the Group of Seven, David B. Milne, and Emily Carr, along with Paul-Émile Borduas, Kazuo Nakamura and other more contemporary Canadian artists, including Tony Calzetta and Carol Wainio.

In all the paintings selected, the abstraction of landscape is accomplished through a range of techniques. Each work presents a different idea of landscape with varying physical perspectives, understanding of colour, and application of paint. Though each artist is dealing with the notion of landscape, there is a great variety of aesthetic and emotional difference among the works.