Vital Force

This title brings to light one of the most important artistic groups in 20th-century Canadian art. Founded in 1933 in reaction to the established view of the Group of Seven as the "national art of Canada", this diverse group of progressive young artists was the first to aspire to cross-Canada representation of modernist art. Yet the Canadian Group of Painters (CGP) has not entered popular lexicon as did its famous predecessor. This publication sheds new light on the artistic and social impact of the CGP in the first and most dynamic decades of its existence, from 1933 to 1953. Forty-eight paintings by forty-eight key members convey the richness of the group's practice: new visions of landscape, bold depictions of people and fresh experiments in abstraction. In contrast to the Group of Seven, the Canadian Group of Painters was engaged with modern life during the turbulent times of the Depression, World War II and post-war reconstruction thereby making it a vital force.