Terre Sauvage by A.Y. Jackson
The Red Maple by A.Y. Jackson
A Copse, Evening by A.Y. Jackson
First Snow, Algoma Country by A.Y. Jackson
Entrance to Halifax Harbour by A.Y. Jackson

A.Y. Jackson

1882–1974 · Canadian

At eighty-two, Alexander Young Jackson was asked about the origins of Canada's Group of Seven. His answer was brief: "What had started all this was that MacDonald and Harris had become excited about a show of Scandinavian paintings. I guess if there was a starting point for the Group of Seven, that would be it." The show in question was at the Albright Gallery in Buffalo, where paintings of the Swedish and Norwegian north gave two Toronto artists a model for what Canadian[1] landscape painting[1] could become.

Key facts

Lived
1882–1974, Canadian[1]
Movement
[1]
Works held in
7 museums
Wikipedia
View article

Biography

Born in Montreal in 1882[1], Jackson had little wilderness experience before joining the group; his north-country exposure before 1910[1] amounted to a single canoe trip on the Rideau River. He arrived in Toronto in May 1913 and began sharing a studio with Lawren Harris the following year. Georgian Bay, he initially declared, was "nothing but little islands covered with scrub and pine trees": not, he thought, quite paintable. He was persuaded otherwise.

The Group of Seven's first exhibition opened at the Art Gallery of Toronto in May 1920[1]. Jackson remained its most committed travelling member, making extended sketching trips through Quebec, the Rockies, and the Arctic (expeditions in 1927 and 1930). A French-Canadian[1] reviewer in 1921 called him "the most wild and violent of the realists" among the Group. When challenged in a 1950 CBC radio interview about whether he painted portraits, he replied: "No, sir, I'm a landscape man." He died in 1974[1].

Timeline

  1. 1882Born in Montreal.
  2. 1913Moved to Toronto in May.
  3. 1914Began sharing a studio with Lawren Harris.
  4. 1920The Group of Seven's first exhibition opened at the Art Gallery of Toronto in May.
  5. 1927Made an extended sketching trip through the Arctic.
  6. 1930Made an extended sketching trip through the Arctic.
  7. 1974Died at 92. He was a landscape painter.

Notable Works

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Related Artists

Bernardo Bellotto

Bernardo Bellotto

1721–1780 · Italian

Andre Dunoyer de Segonzac

Andre Dunoyer de Segonzac

1884–1974 · French

Carl Blechen

Carl Blechen

1798–1840 · German

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams

1902–1984 · American

Kyffin Williams

Kyffin Williams

1918–2006 · British

Marianne North

Marianne North

1831–1890 · British

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is A.Y. Jackson known for?
    At first, A.Y. Jackson painted things from real life, but from 1943[1], he began creating abstract “action paintings”. He laid his large canvases on the floor of his studio and walked around each one, dripping, flinging, and pouring paint on them; these paintings were unlike any others produced before.
  • Who was A.Y. Jackson?
    Alexander Young Jackson was a member of Canada's Group of Seven, which was inspired by a show of Scandinavian paintings at the Albright Gallery in Buffalo. He consistently maintained that the Group learned everything from the land itself. He said that the Group abandoned any attempt after literal painting and treated their subjects with the freedom of the decorative designer, just as the Swedes had done.
  • What was A.Y. Jackson's art style?
    A.Y. Jackson's art style involved abandoning any attempt after literal painting and treating subjects with the freedom of the decorative designer, similar to the Swedish style. He consistently maintained that the Group learned everything from the land itself.
  • When was A.Y. Jackson born?
    A.Y. Jackson was born in 1882[1]. A.Y. Jackson died in 1974[1], aged 92.
  • How did A.Y. Jackson die?
    A.Y. Jackson died in 1974[1] at the age of 92.

Sources

Editorial draws on the following primary and tertiary references for A.Y. Jackson.

  1. [1] wikipedia Wikipedia: A.Y. Jackson Used for: biography, birth dates, death dates, identifiers, movement attribution, nationality.
  2. [2] book Dorling Kindersley, Artists: Inspiring Stories of the World's Most Creative Minds Used for: stylistic analysis.
  3. [3] book O'Brian, John; White, Peter; , Beyond Wilderness Used for: biography.
  4. [4] book Krens Thomas (Ed.), From van Gogh to Picasso, From Kandinsky to Pollock. Masterpieces of Modern Art Used for: biography.
  5. [5] book guggenheim-artoftomorrowfif1939gugg Used for: biography.
  6. [6] book Landauer, Susan, The not-so-still life : a century of California painting and sculpture Used for: biography.

Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-05-24. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.

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