Abstract

The first collection of the writings of artist Lionel Lemoine FitzGerald

Artist and educator Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald (1890–1956) was the only member of the Group of Seven, the iconic collective of Canadian landscape painters, who was based in Western Canada. Some Magnetic Force is the first collection to gather the surviving writings by the Winnipeg artist. Spanning from 1930 to 1954, the texts gathered here begin during the mature period of his artistic development at age forty and conclude with personal reflections late in life on the nature of art and his career.

Michael Parke-Taylor has uncovered and chronologically organized FitzGerald’s letters, diary, lectures, and reports to show how FitzGerald understood the development of his practice, communicated the philosophy of art to his art students, confronted challenges in his career, and presented his spiritual aspirations, views about the natural world, and private desires. These writings also elucidate the material and reputational realities of artistic production in places beyond the period’s dominant Canadian art centers of Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.

Including illustrations of his work and an introduction and notes that contextualize FitzGerald’s biography and social circles, Some Magnetic Force provides remarkable insights into the influences, interests, and innovations of the Group of Seven’s prairie artist.