Œuvres d'art

Spring Thaw, Baie St. Paul, Que, 1945 is an excellent example of Johnston’s painting at Baie St Paul in Charlevoix County, a region which had attracted some of his fellow members of the Group of Seven earlier in their careers. Johnston was in the Baie St Paul area in the mid-1945 and perhaps the following year. According to one of his granddaughters, a daughter of Frances-Anne Johnstone and Franklin Arbuckle, Frank Johnston stayed at a cabin on René Richard’s property. She recalled that she and her parents “spent many weeks in René’s house”. It would not surprise us if the lure for Johnston to visit the Baie St Paul area was to accompany his son-in-law, Franklin Arbuckle, and daughter Frances-Anne who were then living in Montreal, on a sketching trip there.

Johnston, along with J.E.H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, and Franklin Carmichael, A.Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris, Fred Varley joined together to form the now iconic Group of Seven exhibiting together in their first Group show in May of 1920. Johnston moved to Winnipeg the following year where he became Principal at the College of Art and Director of the Gallery but he maintained his association with the Group of Seven only until 1924 when he returned to Toronto to teach at the Ontario College of Art.