Solemn Land, Montreal River into Lake Superior
Solemn Land, Montreal River into Lake Superior
More than a century ago, several artists found themselves on the precipice of history along the mysterious, mighty shores of Lake Superior. Their hearts burdened with the horrors witnessed in WWI and the loss of their close friend and fellow painter, Tom Thomson, they’d arrived via the newly constructed Algoma Central Railway, paints and brushes in tow. There, amongst ancient rocks, trees, and within the coziness of the rustic box car where they cooked and slept, they found both the solitude and camaraderie they sought to kindle renewal. Upon returning home, these artists formed the Group of Seven.
The Montreal River still tumbles into the Great Lake, as alluring today as it was in 1918. Above it stretches Solemn Land, an 800-foot wall of rock as imposing as it is enchanting. Last October, guided by modern day explorer and conservation photographer Gary McGuffin, seven artists visited several of the Group’s original painting sites along the river. Their goal was to capture the same vistas as the Group, using their same method: plein air sketches, poetic tributes to the landscape as witnessed in nature, in real time. Back in studio, each artist chose several of these sketches to develop onto large canvasses—novels, by comparison, that tellthe same story as the sketch after the artist has had opportunity to ruminate upon it and develop it more critically.
At The Coventry Art Gallery ‘Solemn Land’ exhibition, a mix of the plein air sketches and large studio pieces from the October 2021 trip are on display. The hope of the artists—James Aitken, Peter Adams, Mark Berens, Jonathan Houghton, Paul Nabuurs, Andrew Peycha and Peter Taylor—is for the art to make these landscapes appear once again. Each piece is a tribute to the inspirational, eternally beautiful Algoma District, a place so special to the Canadian psyche and so interwoven in the fabric of our cultural heritage that is certainly worthy of preservation.
