Alexander Young Jackson (1882-1974)
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Alexander Young Jackson (A.Y. Jackson) was a Canadian painter, best known for his involvement in the Group of Seven. Jackson grew up in the Canadian province of Quebec, with his five siblings and mother. Jackson’s father left the family, forcing the children to work while taking evening classes. Jackson was employed by a lithography company, which exposed him to the graphic arts at an early age. Jackson simultaneously studied at the Montreal institution called Le Monument National.
By 1905, Jackson made his way to Europe while working on a cattle boat. Upon his return to North America, Jackson headed for the United States where he found work in Chicago as a commercial artist and continued his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago. In merely two years of working in the “windy city”, Jackson was able to finance a trip to Europe. Jackson enrolled in classes at the Academie Julian in Paris and studied with Impressionists throughout France, Italy and the Netherlands. J.P. Laurens was one of Jackson’s more influential teachers.
Jackson took a brief break from painting from 1914 to 1916 to serve in the Canadian army. He was injured in battle and was sent back to work as an army artist for the Canadian War Records Department.
Jackson eventually returned to Quebec, where he painted landscapes of the Canadian wilderness and attempted to integrate into the Montreal art scene. Though Jackson occasionally exhibited in Montreal, he began to gravitate towards the Toronto art scene. In Toronto, Jackson joined a group of painters that took frequent painting trips to northern Ontario and Lake Superior.
The painters eventually formed the Group of Seven, which is known as the first official, Canadian school of landscape painting. The group formed around 1919 and was eventually reconstructed in 1933 as the Canadian Group of Painters. Jackson worked as a painting instructor in Toronto at the Ontario College of Art while frequently exhibiting with the Group of Seven. He ultimately moved to Ottawa in 1955 but continued to go on painting trips throughout Canada.
By 1970, A.Y. Jackson became a major name in Canadian art. There are now two schools and a highway vista named after the artist. Jackson’s paintings are currently in major Canadian museums and private collections. Do you think you own a painting by the Group of Seven painter, A.Y. Jackson? Contact us. We are the experts on A.Y. Jackson.