Rocks continues Joan Murray’s thematic series of art books based on the Group of Seven, but this time she has chosen to mine a formidable subject, focussing particularly on the images of Canada’s natural beauty by Arthur Lismer and Franklin Carmichael. 

Murray concentrates on the preference of the Group of Seven for painting tremendous rocks, rocks massive and dense, rocks that were created at the beginning of the world, rocks that compose Canada and have affected Canadians. The Group of Seven were like the rocks themselves, solid men who wanted to create in paint “an everlasting beauty.” 

Murray has marshalled an impressive group of paintings—some quite well known. Awesome to behold, the rock of Canada posed regally for the Group of Seven, and the paintings in this book convey a strong view of the country’s majesty.

112 pages