
Military Lecture: A.Y. Jackson, the Group of Seven and the Great War
February 20 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Author Douglas Hunter explores the role of the First World War in the life and career of artist A.Y. Jackson, and its impact on the formation of Canada’s most famous art collective, the Group of Seven. The group had begun to assemble in 1914, and Jackson was the only member of the circle to volunteer for overseas service. He enlisted as a private with the 60th Battalion in Montreal in June 1915 and was wounded at the Battle of Mount Sorrel in June 1916. He suffered shell-shock, and was knocking around camps in England when he was recruited into the Canadian war memorials project as an artist by Lord Beaverbrook in August 1917. Jackson made two trips to the front, in October 1917 and March 1918, to produce sketches for canvases he completed at a studio in London, UK. His letters home illuminate the experience and trauma of war. The challenges of translating the war into oil on canvas had a major impact on his artistic methods and resulted in some of the finest paintings of his career.
Douglas Hunter is the author of more than 20 works of non-fiction. He has been a winner and finalist of Canada’s National Business Book Award and a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Prize, the Defoe Book Prize, and the Wilson Prize in Canadian History. He holds a PhD in history from York University.
Some of his books will be available for sale at the event.
Doors open at 6:30 and the presentation starts at 7:00 pm, followed by a question period.
A.Y Jackson, the Group of Seven and the Great War is presented by Douglas Hunter. The lecture will premiere in-person at the Civic Museum, and online via our Facebook livestream. The recorded conversation will be available on Facebook, YouTube, and our Museum Everywhere Portal. Guelph Museums’ Military Lecture series is presented in partnership with the Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada.
About Douglas Hunter
Douglas Hunter is the author of more than twenty works of non-fiction. He has been a winner and finalist of Canada’s National Business Book Award and a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction Prize, the Defoe Book Prize, and the Wilson Prize in Canadian History. He holds a PhD in history from York University.