Georgian Bay

Moore Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Ontario

A.Y. Jackson, A Painter’s Country, Vancouver/Toronto, 1958, page 25 Naomi Jackson Groves, A.Y.’s Canada, Toronto/Vancouver, 1968, pages 108 and 110 David P. Silcox, The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson, Toronto, 2003, page 214 Wayne Larsen, A.Y. Jackson: The Life of a Landscape Painter, Toronto, 2009, pages 51 and 55 Ian A.C. Dejardin, Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, London, 2011, page 111

Georgian Bay was a region A.Y. Jackson would return to regularly throughout his career, the artist referring to the area as his “happy hunting ground.” He enjoyed the opportunity to paddle around islands and explore the web of channels, affording him near-infinite vistas for sketching. Jackson often stayed with Dr. James MacCallum, a friend and patron to members of the Group of Seven, during his forays in the area. MacCallum’s cottage was located on an island (which MacCallum called “West Wind Island”) in Go Home Bay and he “was happy to entertain his artist friends here or make [the cottage] available to them when he was not there.” David Silcox emphasizes the importance of this relationship for Jackson and his fellow artists, as MacCallum’s support and friendship created “an atmosphere of possibility that gave birth to a stunning array of superb works.” The viewer can almost feel the gusts of wind as they blow over the bay, rippling the clear water below. The sunlight dappling the water’s surface adds a shimmering quality, complementing the ribboned patterning of the rocky shoreline. In the distance, Jackson’s symbolic Jack pine trees bend gracefully in the wind. We find depictions of lone trees within some of the most recognizable representations of Georgian Bay by both Jackson and his fellow members of the Group of Seven, providing visual evidence of not only the power of the environment, but also of the solidarity witnessed within the grand expanse of the landscape. Naomi Jackson Groves confirms that “with the motif of the wind-swept pine on the wave-beaten shore we reach the storm centre of the Group of Seven in its initial years.” Executed in warm rust and earthy browns at the shoreline, Jackson’s use of aquamarine with cobalt blue accents expertly contrast, adding dynamism as the eye travels towards the high horizon line. At Georgian Bay the stage is continuously set for the “spectacular storms that rattled the bay”, which were “an inspiration to its visiting artists.”