I was about to start this post by writing ‘One of the highlights of this trip was the McMichael Canadian Art Collection‘. It fact, every museum we visited was a highlight. This was merely the first of eight amazing museums and galleries.
I don’t say this lightly, as London has a wealth of world-class museums and art galleries. What’s more, admission is free to the majority of them. What made the museums we visited in Canada special is that they showed us what is uniquely Canadian (e.g. Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau) or they held specialist collections established and donated by Canadians (Bata Shoe Museum, Gardiner Museum, both in Toronto).
One thing I admire about my Toronto Cousins is that the four of them work very well together. One suggests something, and another will step in to help out. It was Anglophile Cousin (she loves anything English) who suggested that ‘If you’re into art, then the McMichael Gallery would be worth a visit because it’s where the Group of Seven art is housed. The grounds are also extensive and if the weather is nice you can walk the trails and look at the leaves’. Toronto Cousin gamely drove us to the museum, located 45 minutes away by car from downtown Toronto, and accompanied us around the galleries.
I had not come across the Group of Seven before. This was a group of Canadian landscape painters active from 1920 to 1933, and we would later also come across their works in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), which we skipped in order to fit in other activities, holds signature works by the group.
A Northern Silver Mine by Franklin Carmichael
Autumn Birches by Tom Thomson
In addition to works by the Group of Seven (and other artists associated with the group), there is currently an exhibition of historical and contemporary Indigenous art from McMichael’s permanent collection.
Works by Indigenous Canadian artist Norval Morrisseau
Sculptures made from wolf skull (top) and whale bone (bottom)
Wooden mask from the Northwest Coast (top) and a spindle whorl/ spinner featuring four salmon, an important traditional food on the Northwest Coast (bottom)
I especially admired the stitching on these wool wall hangings by Marion Tuu’luq
View from one of the gallery’s windows
The McMichael Gallery is located in the village of Kleinburg, in the city of Vaughan. If staying in downtown Toronto, you will need a car to get here. Address: 10365 Islington Avenue, Kleinburg, ON L0J 1C0.
If time permits, stop for a coffee (in Balzac’s) in Kleinburg, or have a short wander around Vaughan Mills. The latter is a huge shopping mall and I suggest only one shop, Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World. As a city dweller this was eye-opening. Now I know where to go to buy a kayak.
A sweet treat of iced maple latte and our first butter tart from Balzac’s Coffee Roasters in Kleinburg
In the next Canada post (perhaps after a cake recipe) we get a glimpse of Toronto’s beautiful skyline.