Exploring Quintessential: Art for a Nation Two imported cultural references come to mind upon visiting (world class) Art Gallery of Ontario's OH! Canada Project and its central exhibition The Group of Seven: Art for a Nation. One is theme music from film The Magnificent Seven, rising to triumphal crescendo, and other is author Jane Smiley's critique of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, who pronounces that it little to offer in way of greatness. There is more to be learned about American character from its canonization than through its canonization.(f.1) It costs $12.50 Canadian to see this show, and while it's perfectly possible to see many Group of Seven paintings in regular part of gallery, or to trek to Kleinberg and see many, many Group of Seven paintings, still, it seems interesting and important to see this particular show, because: i) it has been mounted by National Gallery in honour of Group's anniversary and has been travelling across country; ii) some pieces have not been exhibited since their first showing in 1920s; iii) AGO has made an energetic effort to make it special through a comprehensive, multi - dimensional exploration, including lectures, a film series, musical events and various participatory activities; and iv) Canada has canonized this group of artists. Curator Charles Hill's summation in accompanying catalogue articulates this position: The ideas debated and promoted by Group of Seven have had a long life - for some, far too long. They would inform cultural policy into 1950s and beyond; of seventeen recipients of prestigious Canada Council Medal from 1961 to 1964, for example, twelve had played some role in events narrated in this text: Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, Fred Varley, Wilfred Pelletier Sir Ernest MacMillan, E.J. Pratt, Marius Barbeau, Brooke Claxton, and Vincent Massey. Like other major art innovators, Group were united in their intent and cooperative action, and together they were remarkably effective in promulgating their vision across Canada and internationally. Theirs is a notable record of achievement, and their ideals have left a permanent trace on culture of Canada.(f.2) The show is solemn, beautiful and simply organized in chronological order, selectively recreating exhibitions that Group held from 1920 - 1931 at Art Gallery of Toronto, now Art Gallery of Ontario. Original members were Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Frank H. Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald and F.H. Varley. Tom Thomson, who died in 1917, continued to exert a presence, while Johnston remained a member for only two years. In 1926 members invited A.J. Casson to join Group, bringing it back to seven. Each member was an individual, and while they all espoused promotion of painting that connected in style and subject matter to Canadian environment, they each had their own ways of doing so. The gallery is well attended on a Saturday morning, its audience respectfully progressing from one piece to another, including accompanying installations which AGO has mounted to complement Art for a Nation travelling show, and handsome AGO shop where clever marketing tactics and enthusiastic consumerism make stopping by obligatory. (I'm getting a BOYZ IN THE WOOD T - shirt.) But in spite of its solemnity, its explication of something quintessentially Canadian, its catechism of the spirit of young Canada(f.3) artists themselves have managed to subvert their own doctrine in little, but important ways, and perhaps in spite of themselves. Ethnologist Marius Barbeau compared importation of cultural values to importing wine, olive oil and silk.(f.4) Apparently Canadians were not willing to live by corn and tobacco alone, and Canadian cultural consumers were getting their values from abroad at expense of indigenous products. …