The Eastern Group of Painters was a group of

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

artists formed in 1938 in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

for exhibition purposes and showing together as a group till 1950. It included Montreal artists whose common interest was painting and an

art for art's sake Art for art's sake—the usual English rendering of (), a French slogan from the latter half of the 19th century—is a phrase that expresses the philosophy that 'true' art is utterly independent of all social values and utilitarian functions, b ...

aesthetic, not the espousal of a nationalist theory as was the case with the

Group of Seven The Group of Seven (G7) is an Intergovernmentalism, intergovernmental political and economic forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non- ...

or the

Canadian Group of Painters The Canadian Group of Painters (CGP) was a collective of 28 painters from across Canada who came together as a group in 1933. Its Archives is in Queen's University, Kingston. Formation The Canadian Group of Painters succeeded the disbanded Grou ...

. The group's members included

Alexander Bercovitch Alexander Bercovitch (March 15, 1891January 07, 1951) was a painter, set designer and teacher, known for his lively picturing and Expressionist intensity of colour. He was an important part of the art scene in Montreal in the 1930s and 1940s, as ...

Goodridge Roberts William Goodridge Roberts (1904–1974) was a Canadian painter known for his landscape paintings, still lifes, figure paintings and interiors. He was also a teacher. Career Goodridge Roberts was the son of poet and novelist Theodore Goodridge ...

, Eric Goldberg, Jack Weldon Humphrey,

John Goodwin Lyman John Goodwin Lyman (September 29, 1886 – May 26, 1967) was an American-born Canadian modernist painter active largely in Montreal, Quebec. In the 1930s he did much to promote modern art in Canada, founding the Contemporary Art Society in 1939. ...

, and

Jori Smith Marjorie "Jori" Smith (January 1, 1907 – November 25, 2005) was a key figure in the 1930s in initiating Canada's modernist art movement. She was a founding member of the Contemporary Arts Society in 1939. Biography Smith was born in Montreal, ...

. In 1939, Jack Humphrey was replaced by Philip Surrey and Bercovitch resigned in 1942. The group showed their work first with W. Scott and Sons (1938),"The Eastern Group". Montreal Standard, Nov. 19, 1938 then at the

Art Association of Montreal The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square Mile stretch of Sherbrooke Street west. The MMFA ...

(1940), the Dominion Gallery (which represented Goldberg and Lyman) (1945), and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1950).C. G. MacDonald, "Eastern Group art Displays Little New". Montreal Herald, Feb. 3, 1950 By the late 1930s, many Canadian artists began to resent the hegemony of

. The Eastern Group of Painters was formed, as member John Lyman wrote, "to restore the "feel" of life, the savour of things" to

Canadian art Canadian art refers to the visual arts, visual (including painting, photography, and printmaking) as well as plastic arts (such as sculpture) originating from the geographical area of contemporary Canada. Art in Canada is marked by thousands of ...

. What concerned them was being simply painters, said the critic

Robert Ayre Robert Hugh Ayre LL. D. (April 3, 1900 December 24, 1980) was a pioneering art critic for the Montreal Star who wrote about Canadian art for 20 years (1950-1970) and an author of juvenile fiction inspired by legends of the First Nations. Caree ...

. who spoke elsewhere of their honesty of purpose. The group had a serious concern with the art of painting and took pleasure in familiar life as a jumping-off place, wrote the same critic. It was an informal fellowship but the members had similarities of views on fundamentals such as an openness to European art. But by 1950 in a show at the

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square Mile stretch of Sherbrooke Street west. The MMFA ...

, the group, now considered a school, was seen to be "conservative with regard for tradition".Dick Hersey, Work of Eastern Group Colourful, Conservative, Montreal Standard, Jan. 28, 1950 It showed little that was new, said the Montreal Herald. John Lyman's

Contemporary Arts Society The Contemporary Arts Society was founded by John Lyman in 1939 to promote modern art in Montreal, at a time when Canada was dominated by academic art. Lyman was the Society's first president. The additional officers were vice-president Paul-Émil ...

(1939–48) (in French, ''Société d'art contemporain'') evolved from the Eastern Group of Painters.

References

{{Canadianart Eastern Group of Painters Eastern Group of Painters Arts organizations established in 1938 1938 establishments in Canada History of art in Canada