Canadian Group of Painters

[2] In the early 1930s, the Group of Seven's prominence had caused controversy as many believed that the National Gallery of Canada exhibited favouritism for their work[3] and they were the only Canadian artists to receive global recognition.

Concern over the Gallery's potential bias and exclusion of modern artists led to the formation of the Canadian Group of Painters in February 1933.

The group was made up of 28 different English-speaking painters from across Canada with Lawren Harris as their inaugural president.

As active painters and as a group they continued to produce and influence Canadian art for many years.

A Vital Force: The Canadian Group of Painters (CGP) (2013), which was curated by Alicia Boutilier for the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, was the first major touring exhibition to focus exclusively on the CGP in an exhibition of major paintings from public and private collections across Canada.