October Shower Gleam 1922

J.E.H. MacDonald’s “October Shower Gleam” is an oil painting that captures a Canadian landscape as it turns from green to red. The heavy sky threatens a change, a shower perhaps, and this mirrors the historical context of the Group of Seven, of which MacDonald was a founder, and the socio-political landscape of Canada at the beginning of the 20th Century. The Group of Seven was consciously trying to forge a new, distinctly Canadian style of painting, and in this work we see the influence of European Post-Impressionism filtered through the particular light and geography of Ontario. They attempted to build an institution of purely Canadian art and to challenge the perceived dominance of European artistic traditions. We need to understand this moment in Canadian history and the art institutions that shaped it to fully appreciate the bold, modern, and nation-building project that is on display here. Scholarly articles, biographies, and exhibition catalogs could all help to understand the painting better.