The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson
*Starred Review* The circle of gifted and zealous Canadian painters that dubbed itself the Group of Seven in Toronto in 1920 after working together a good dozen years would have been the Group of Eight if Tom Thomson, who, along with Lawren Harris, painted the most recognizable of the influential band's resplendent images, hadn't drowned in 1917. Art historian Silcox, a wonderfully lucid stylist, describes this pioneering group as "socially responsible, serious, fervent, egalitarian, and sensitive to the concerns of ordinary people," even though they failed to accept women artists as their equals, and expertly chronicles their mission to create an "all-Canadian art." Guided by the transcendentalists Emerson and Thoreau, they sought to capture the spirituality inherent in nature, and consequently painted astonishingly rich, dramatic, even exalted landscapes. This definitive volume presents 400 supreme color reproductions, many of works never published before, thus covering the entire spectrum of the proficient and prolific group's magnificent output, which includes moody industrial, urban, and war scenes as well as idealized visions of pristine wilderness. Although each artist has his distinct style, every painting is vibrantly, radiantly, and gloriously alive: a veritable hymn to life.Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved