Franklin Carmichael (May 4, 1890 - Oct. 24, 1945), a Canadian artist, was born to Scottish 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, where he met Tom Thomson, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald and Frederick Varley. In 1913, Carmichael went to Antwerp, Belgium to study painting, then 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. Franklin Carmichael was a founding member of the Group of Seven, as well as the youngest one. He was President of the Group from 1932 to 1934. He also founded the Ontario Society of Painters in Watercolour in 1925, as well as the Canadian Group of Painters in 1933. He taught at the Ontario College of Art from 1932 to 1945. He was appointed Head of Graphic and Commercial Art.
Many of his paintings depict small towns in Ontario. His preferred landscapes were those of the Ottawa Valley and the shores of Lake Superior, which he often visited with Alfred Casson and Lawren Harris.
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