Franklin Carmichael, R.C.A., O.S.A. (1890-1945)

Franklin Carmichael, R.C.A., O.S.A. (1890-1945)

"Port Coldwell Bay, Lake Superior", 1925

Oil on panel 10" x 12" (SOLD)

Franklin Carmichael, R.C.A., O.S.A. (1890-1945)

"La Cloche Panorama", 1939

Watercolour 11.1/2" x 13.1/2" (SOLD)

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Franklin Carmichael was born May 4th, 1890 to Scottish-Canadian parents in Orillia, Ontario.   He studied at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto with William Cruickshank and George Reid, then at the Toronto Technical School with Gustav Hahn.  In 1911, he apprenticed as a commercial artist with the Grip Ltd. advertising agency in Toronto.  It was here that he met Tom Thomson, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald and Frederick Varley.  In 1913, Carmichael travelled to Antwerp, Belgium to study painting at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts.   He came back to Canada because of World War I.  

 

He worked as a designer in Toronto, and rejoined with the rest of the artists who would eventually be part of the Group of Seven.   On weekends, they would travel to the countryside and sketch landscapes of northern Ontario.  His mediums of choice were watercolour and oil.

 

In 1925 Franklin Carmichael founded the Ontario Society for Painters in Watercolour, along with two other painters,  A.J. Casson and F. H. Brigden.  In 1933 he joined the Canadian Group of Painters.  Despite being the youngest in the group, Franklin Carmichael was president of The Group of Seven from 1932 to 1934.  Franklin Carmichael taught at the Ontario College of Art from 1932 to 1945, and he was appointed Head of Graphic and Commercial Art.

 

During the late 1930s and 1940s, he branched out and worked on wood engravings and linocuts, all with the same precision and rhythmic quality of his paintings.  He also worked on book illustrations for Canadian publishers until the end of his life.

 

He passed away suddenly on October 24th, 1945.