The Group of Seven were not just artists, but revolutionaries, using their painted canvases to break the constricting bonds of European style and acceptable subject matter.
Their first show in 1920 would not only alter the artistic landscape forever, but, throughout their lifetimes, these influential artists would build a new Canadian identity, forcing the world to accept the rugged wilderness and their realistic interpretation of inspiring vistas as legitimate art. They led the way for a purely Canadian art movement.
Despite that world renown, few in Southern Georgian Bay realize they are intrinsically linked with this famous group. Not only were the area’s iconic windswept pines and rocky shoreline food for their imagination, but one painter, Franz Johnston, lived and worked here – and a significant amount of his work has a home at the Huronia Museum in Midland.
“When the museum first opened to the public in 1947, Johnston donated one of his paintings,” explained museum curator Jamie Hunter. “Others were added through the years. The collection got a tremendous boost by Rod and Fran Ferguson’s donation in 2006. Undoubtedly, it’s the very best collection in Canada of the last 25 years of his life.”
The museum’s collection covers Johnston’s work from 1924-25 onward.
“We’ve been able to accumulate a total of 33 original Franz Johnstons, and the collection continues to grow. We’re very interested in anything related to Franz Johnston. The difficulty in collecting 1917-24 is that period (is) associated with (the) Group of Seven, and paintings have risen in value considerably faster than the later ones – which, in my opinion, are generally better in experience and maturation.”
The collection also includes sketchbooks, letters, an antique chair, painted linoleum tiles he gave away as gifts, hand-painted and carved picture frames, and one of his easels, streaked with Johnson’s trademark green-blue paint colour.
“We now have the largest collection of Franz Johnston works of any Canadian institution,” said Hunter. “We also have a large archival collection, including 24,000 photographs he took between 1924 and 1949.”
Many of those photographs would have been lost forever to the sands of time – or at least the landfill – if it hadn’t been for a sentimental housekeeper.
Hunter said back in 1999-2000, the museum embarked on an extensive research project preparing for a Johnston exhibit.
“Part of the project was to track down any family accounts – diaries, sketchbooks, letters, all manner of material.”
A small ad in The Toronto Star prompted an unusually intriguing phone call.
“A cleaning lady living south of Bancroft had been hired by Johnston’s son Paul Rodrik to clean his house once a week,” Hunter explained. “When he died in 1983, his wife at the time had no idea what to do with the contents and told the housekeeper to put it in a yard sale or out in the garbage. She could not bring herself to dispose of the extensive photographic collection, so she kept it.”
Although she had contacted both the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada, neither expressed interest.
“We had no idea, but, by her description on the telephone of vials and vials of negatives, we thought it might be Paul’s or Franz’s.” They hit the jackpot. The boxes held untold treasures, including sketchbooks, notes and thousands of negatives and prints that now form an integral part of the museum’s collection.
So, why is this influential Canadian painter not better known? Hunter said his work has largely slipped under the radar and, lacking a scholarly evaluation, has been written off by the art establishment. Some would call it an unfair assessment of a prudent and successful artist whose work enjoyed widespread appeal, was contracted to the T.E. Eaton art store and was reproduced by the hundreds.
Hunter noted, “Johnston produced more greeting cards than any other artist in Canada.”
Although some see that as tantamount to selling out as an artist, Hunter said such criticism is “completely unfair.”
“He was independently successful throughout the period that he paints,” he said.
A sought-after lyrical painter, Johnston is often described as the best-selling artist of his generation.
Frustrated by being passed over for a teaching position at the Ontario College of Art, where he had instructed since his return from Winnipeg in 1924, Johnston sought financial freedom to support his family and his work. Hunter said Johnston strove to be independent, moving to Midland to support his family as an artist and escape the Depression hitting Toronto hard in 1930.
For decades, Johnston painted steadily throughout the year and then focused on summer-school classes in Balm Beach and later Wyebridge.
While some scholars maintain Johnston renounced his membership in the Group of Seven in the mid-1920s, history shows he did not, remaining friends and continuing to be colleagues of its members.
“He wanted to be an independent painter. He didn’t really want to be part of a club, but he is certainly part of an artistic movement and very much a part of his generation,” Hunter said.
In fact, Johnston was instrumental in the design of the Group of Seven’s distinctive orange logo, and the National Archives has the original with his signature on it.
Though his early work is more avant garde, developing and exploring new directions, he became more conservative later in life and is today known largely as a landscape artist. However, his work does suggest a master of light, demonstrating an ability to capture on canvas all its nuances, including early morning, late afternoon, moonlight, light on snow, and the unusual purple hues produced in autumn.
Huronia Museum’s collection includes several pieces demonstrating this unique ability to produce the peculiar colours of light experienced in this area. There’s a wide range of works, from the typical “Early Spring” in a modest five-by-seven size to the striking “Indian Grave,” measuring several feet across.
It’s not a closed collection, and Hunter said they are still very interested in anything related to Midland’s most famous artist.
“Clearly, there are gaps in our collection. We would like to continue to build on our Franz Johnston works. We’d love to get an original from the boxcar trips to Algoma and that period.”
The Huronia Museum is in Midland’s Little Lake Park. Call 526-2844 for more information on the Franz Johnston collection.
Francis Hans Johnston (born in Toronto, June 19, 1888)
— Studied at Toronto’s Central Technical School with Gustav Hahn, and at the Central Ontario School of Art with William Cruikshank and G.A. Reid (all three noted Canadian artists of that time)
— 1904, apprenticed with Toronto jewelers Ryrie Brothers
— 1906, illustrator at Brigdens Ltd. design studio
— A stint at Grip Ltd in 1908 (specializing in art nouveau style) would change history as it provided a meeting ground for five of the seven artists who would later form the Group of Seven
— Marries Florence Jamieson from Flos Township in 1910
— 1911, joins the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto
— 1912, leaves for Philadelphia and New York for commercial work before returning to Toronto in 1915
— The Group of Seven came together in Toronto in the 1910s and initially included: Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer, A.Y. Jackson, J.E.H. MacDonald, Frank Johnston, F.H. Varley and Frank Carmichael
— Serves as an official war artist, 1917-18, one of the first to incorporate airplanes in art.
— 1918-22, embarks on boxcar trips to northern Ontario and the Lake Superior shoreline with other artists
— Participated in the first exhibition of the Group of Seven in 1920
— Principal of the Winnipeg School of Art, 1921-24
— 1926, a numerologist recommends a name change and Johnston combines Frank and Hans to create Franz
— Taught in Toronto, 1927-29
— 1930, Franz Johnston moves to Midland to escape the Depression and raise his family on his artist’s income
— 1930s/1940s, operates first Skitawaboo private school of art at Balm Beach, then the much larger Tondakea Lodge, followed by the purchase and conversion of the town hall in Wyebridge and a house in Midland
— Until 1940, conducted summer art classes on Georgian Bay while working steadily painting to meet demand and become the best-selling artist of his generation
— Died July 9, 1949
Huronia Museum’s treasure trove
Date: Nov 26, 2009
The Huronia Museum is home to an extensive collection of art, sketchbooks, photographs and letters from artist Franz Johnston, who lived and worked in Midland and area for two decades. The collection includes an antique chair, an easel streaked with his trademark green/blue paint, and more than 24,000 photographs.
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