Bidding For Brenda

Description: The Red Maple Painting - Numbered print 384/777 - 37" x 33"

Donated by: John Ovens

Alexander Young Jackson, (October 3, 1882 – April 5, 1974) was a Canadian painter and a founding member of the Group of Seven.

Jackson made a significant contribution to the development of art in Canada, and was successful in bringing together the artists of Montreal and Toronto.

He exhibited with the Group of Seven from 1920. In addition to his work with the Group of Seven, his long career included serving as a war artist during World War I (1917–19) and teaching at the Banff School of Fine Arts, from 1943 to 1949. In his later years he was artist-in-residence at the McMichael Gallery in Kleinberg, Ontario.

In 1919, Jackson and six painter colleagues formed the Group of Seven. These artists were considered to be bold, because the Canadian wilderness had previously been considered too rugged and wild to be painted.^[9] Although his name is conventionally associated with this group, he would also remain something of a loner throughout his life.^[10]

In 1925, he taught at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto; this was the only year that he missed his annual spring trip to Quebec.

In 1933, Jackson helped found the Canadian Group of Painters. Several members of the Group of Seven later became members of this group, including Lawren Harris, A. J. Casson, Arthur Lismer and Franklin Carmichael.