Martin Curzon

”Emily Carr and the Group of Seven: The early Canadian Impressionists”

Emily Carr was an early twentieth century artist in British Columbia who painted the indigenous peoples in their landscape of the forests. Emily Carr was independent, feisty and eccentric but fostered women as significant artists At the same time a group of seven male artists in eastern Canada were developing a style of painting to reflect the typical Canadian landscapes, mountains and seas as a 'Canadian' approach. This talk will introduce artists of significance but little known in the UK.

Martin Curzon, formerly Professor of Paediatric Dentistry in Leeds, started his career as a children's dentist in the backwoods of Canada where he worked with the indigenous peoples. Famous for their carvings and totem poles Martin became fascinated by their culture and land. Discovering a little known artist, Emily Carr her work, Martin felt, depicted so well those aspects of BC that he had encountered. Emily Carr's art lead him on to a contemporary group of Canadian artists 'known now as 'The Group of Seven'. Thus, a life-long interest in Canadian art.