Montreal River, Algoma, 1919

Roberts Gallery, Toronto Acquired by the present Private Collection, circa 1966

“Group of Seven Exhibition of Paintings”, Art Museum of Toronto, 7‒27 May 1920, no. 50 as “Froth Pattern, Below Rapids” “A Reconstruction of The First Exhibition of the Group of Seven”, 1‒31 May 1970, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, no. 50 as “Montreal River” (?) “Le Groupe des Sept/The Group of Seven”, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 19 June‒8 September 1970; travelling to Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 22 September‒31 October 1970, no. 96 “Collector’s Canada: Selections from a Toronto Private Collection”, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; travelling to Musée du Québec, Quebec City; Vancouver Art Gallery; Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, 14 May 1988‒7 May 1989, no. 80 as “Montreal River, Algoma”

F.H. Johnston, New York to Dr. James MacCallum, Toronto, 8 April 1915, Dr. James M. MacCallum Papers, Library and Archives of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa F.H. Johnston, Toronto to Eric Brown, Ottawa, file 5.42 Johnston, Library and Archives, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa “Etchings Predominate at Art Exhibition,” Daily Star (Toronto), 3 May 1919 F.H. Johnston, Hubert to Florence Johnston, Toronto, 1 October 1919, and 6 October 1919, Mary Bishop Rodrick and Franz Johnston Collection, R320, vol. 1-8, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa [Fred Jacob], “Seven Artists Invite Criticism,” Mail and Empire (Toronto) 10 May 1920 Peter Mellen, “The Group of Seven, Toronto”, 1970, reproduced page 211, fig. 256 as “Montreal River” Dennis Reid, “Le Groupe des Sept/The Group of Seven”, Ottawa, 1970, no. 96, reproduced page 138 Denis Reid, “A Bibliography of the Group of Seven”, Ottawa, 1971, page 73 Dennis Reid, “Collector’s Canada Selections from a Toronto Private Collection”, Toronto, 1988, no. 80, page 73 reproduced as “Montreal River, Algoma” Charles C. Hill, “The Group of Seven Art: for a Nation”, Ottawa, 1995, pages 83, 310 Roger Burford Mason, “A Grand Eye for Glory: A Life of Franz Johnston”, Toronto/Oxford, 1998, page 34 Joan Murray, “Water: Lawren Harris and the Group of Seven”, Toronto, 2004, reproduced page 78‒79

In April 1914 Frank Johnston left Toronto to seek work in New York and Philadelphia. Suffering from ill health, his efforts came to naught and he was back in Toronto by April 1916, when he again exhibited with the Ontario Society of Artists and reconnected with his former associates from the design firm Grip Ltd. and members of the Arts and Letters Club. In August 1918 he received a commission to draw and paint the activities of the flight training schools in southern Ontario for the Canadian War Memorials programme; however, a trip to Algoma with Lawren Harris and J.E.H. MacDonald in October interrupted his war work and set him off on a new direction. “Our trip north was a great success – we struck new country in every respect and had a wonderful time sketching for all that was in us,” he wrote to Eric Brown, director of the National Gallery. “I returned with fifty three sketches – all sizes ranging from four to seven inches up to thirty thirty. We all came back without a regret as regards the amount of work we could do. Next time you are in Toronto I would like you to see them. Sir Edmund Walker seemed to like them well enough to ask if Harris, MacDonald and myself would hold a three man show in the Grange this coming spring, so we are going to keep the collection of sketches intact, and try and get a couple of big ones painted to include in the show.” Johnston had fifty‒seven works in the Algoma exhibition at the Art Museum of Toronto in late April 1919, fifty-one sketches of varying dimensions, probably most in tempera, his favoured medium, and six larger canvases previously shown with the Ontario Society of Artists in March. The writer in the “Toronto Daily Star” admired Johnston’s contributions. “Mr. Johnston sees nature much as a huge decoration‒ the blue and purple mountains with a glimpse of orange sky; the sparkle of autumn foliage against the molten grey of a placid lake‒he eliminates detail and finds wide unbroken expanses.” In September 1919 Johnston returned to Algoma with Harris, MacDonald and A.Y. Jackson, the latter newly released from military duty. They painted at Hubert, Batchewana and the Montreal Falls along the route of the Algoma Central Railway. On 1 October Frank wrote to his wife in Toronto, “We have had two fine days in succession. Reds are gone but birch trees are hanging in. Forests are a mass of gold dotted with deep green spruce spiring up like cathedrals. ... Mac & I went on a handcar to Montreal Falls where the big trestle is. We went under & down by the falls. I made my best sketch yet.” He wrote again on 6 October, “I was counting my sketches just before I started to write the letter and would you believe it‒fifty-seven ... the reason is that we know where to find the stuff this year and it saves a lot of looking around. I have not very many panels left so I guess I will just do about one a day from now on, otherwise I will run out of material. I think one of the sketches I made today is possibly one of the best I have made up here, a very simple decorative type of thing but a good size 21 x 25.” Though it is hard to imagine the difficulties Johnston might have had painting in tempera on paper in the midst of the rapids’ spray, the dimensions he quotes suggest that in fact the temperas were painted on the spot and “Montreal River” might be the “best sketch” he referred to on 1 October. It was on the same occasion that J.E.H. MacDonald painted the sketch that would be worked up into the canvas, “Falls, Montreal River” (Art Gallery of Ontario). Viewed from above the falls, the scale of the canvas enhances the impact of the violent flow of water while in Johnston’s painting he has daringly positioned himself in the midst of the roaring torrent. The almost square format enhances the decorative effect. The similarities and differences between the two paintings are striking. Johnston never exhibited a work titled “Montreal River, Algoma”, which is probably a description of the site provided by the family for one of the two Johnston exhibitions held at Roberts Gallery in the 1960s, where the current owners acquired this painting. Dennis Reid has suggested that it was in fact one of sixteen temperas Johnston showed in the first Group of Seven exhibition in May 1920 as “Froth Pattern, Below Rapids”. Johnston’s contributions were admired by Fred Jacob of the “Mail and Empire”. “The finest master of decorative art in this group is Frank H. Johnston. ... He has a gift for finding subjects that show nature in a fanciful, or, at times, fantastic mood, and he catches the feeling exactly.” Johnston was an amazingly prolific artist, as evidenced by his delight in his own production. Having encountered financial difficulties constructing a house in North Toronto, outside coverage of insurance companies and banks, in the fall of 1920 he moved his family to Winnipeg, where he taught at the city’s art school and directed the public gallery. In January 1922 he held an exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery that included 326 works of which over 100 bore Algoma titles. In spite of the great number of Algoma subjects he painted, they remain relatively rare and most of the known works are decorative arrangements of trees and foliage against hills or sky. This dramatic view of the roaring falls appears to be unique. We extend our thanks to Charles Hill, Canadian art historian, former Curator of Canadian Art at the National Gallery of Canada and author of “The Group of Seven‒Art for a Nation”, for his assistance in researching this artwork and for contributing the preceding essay.