LeMoine FitzGerald joined the Group of Seven in 1932. He was familiar with Group members: he had worked with Franz Johnston and had exhibited with the Group in 1928.

FitzGerald was a loyal resident of Winnipeg. He was born there, worked at Brigden's lithograph company, and worked at the Winnipeg School of Art for years, becoming Principal in 1929. His first solo show was at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 1921, featuring paintings of the Canadian Prairies.

When Group of Seven founder JEH MacDonald died, the remaining Group members decided to invite a new member. With the intention of creating a national art movement, the mostly-Ontario artists sought a new "western" perspective.

FitzGerald was asked to join the group and represent Western Canada. While he shared the passion for nature and the Canadian landscape, his style was a bit more modernist than other members. He often sketched landscapes and still-lifes with dots and hatching lines, rather than the thick impasto favoured by his contemporaries. By the 1940s and '50s much of FitzGerald's work became semi or fully abstract.

The gallery has a unique collection of LeMoine FitzGerald work. The artist was equally at home with oil painting, watercolour, drawing, and printmaking, and we have a fine selection of his different media, including his eccentric apple and teapot drawings and some of his experiments with fully abstracted work.

Visit the Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald gallery on our website and contact the gallery for more information.