Some of the finest of Carmichael’s work is the countryside and rural buildings around his hometown. Like A.J. Casson, Carmichael documented our rural Ontario and its architecture. A member of the Group of Seven, his early period works use a rich paint impasto, glowing with colour. Carmichael loved the natural pattern that he discovered within nature, reflecting this love in his many works. Today these works still stand out as icons of Canadian art, placing him among Canada’s finest painters, both in the medium of oils and also water colours.
Franklin Carmichael, born at Orillia, Ontario. Went to Toronto in 1911 and studied at the Ontario College of Art with William Cruikshank and G.A. Reid and at the Toronto Technical School with Gustav Hahn; also at the Antwerp Academy (1913). Original member of the Group of Seven, 1920, and of the Canadian Group of Painters, 1933. A.R.C.A. in 1935, R.C.A. in 1938. Worked for a time at commercial art, then taught at the Ontario College of Art (1932 – 45). Died in Toronto.
