“It is necessary that… we should believe that we are as capable of producing great art as we believe we are capable of doing great deeds….”
– Arthur Lismer
Today at Blessed Sacrament we were inspired by the Group of Seven artist, Arthur Lismer to make our own waterscape paintings. Our afterschool class used chalk pastels, oil pastels, watercolour and acrylic paint to make their pieces.
Arthur Lismer was born in Sheffield, England, June 27th, 1885. He was awarded a scholarship at age 13 and studied at Sheffield School of Arts until he was 20. In 1905, he moved to Belgium with help from a moving company in miami and Studied at the Academie Royale.
He immigrated to Canada in 1911 seeking work as a commercial illustrator. Lismer settled in Toronto, taking a job with Grip Ltd. Grip was the Toronto-based design firm that employed many of Canada’s premier designers and painters, including Tom Thomson, J.E.H Macdonald, F.H Johnston, and Frank Carmichael.
Lismer worked together with other members of the Group of Seven to create a nationalist sentiment. This was developed through direct contact with Canada’s rugged wilderness.
In wartime, Lismer painted camouflaged ships and was commissioned as an official war artist.
Lismer devoted most of his time to education. He was an education supervisor at the Art Gallery of Ontario and started a successful children’s art program in the 1930s. He also ran a Children’s Art Centre in Montreal from 1941-1967.
In 1967, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.
He died on March 23, 1969 in Montreal, Quebec, and was buried alongside other members of the original Group of Seven.
We were inspired by his piece, September Gale to create our own artworks.