After Frank Johnston distanced himself the Group of Seven, the style of his work changed quite dramatically. As his career moved forward in the mid 1920s, his paintings moved towards a more decorative style. Around 1926, Frank Johnston changed his name to Franz at the recommendation of a peer – Franz was “more exotic”. The artist had always found praise in his ability to render light in his paintings, and his work from 1926 onward became picturesque. We see this clearly represented in the blue water, bright sky and sunlit snowy ground in Crystal Weather. These snow laden scenes would become a recurring theme for Johnston, and brought him considerable commercial success as an artist for the remainder of his career.
“In Johnston one can almost see the sound swelling into the vastness of infinity. The small panel is no restriction to the eye and one stands among the stars of timeless space. Dancing formless light, subaqueous in feeling, ephemeral as Aurora Borealis. It holds one motionless in moving space.” (1)…
“In Johnston one can almost see the sound swelling into the vastness of infinity. The small panel is no restriction to the eye and one stands among the stars of timeless space. Dancing formless light, subaqueous in feeling, ephemeral as Aurora Borealis. It holds one motionless in moving space.” (1)
Frank Johnston was born in Toronto and like many other Group members, he joined Grip Ltd. as a commercial artist. In 1910, he left for the United States where he studied art in Philadelphia and worked in commercial design in New York.
Although an original member of the Group, Johnston’s association was a brief one. He did exhibit in the exhibition of 1920, but by 1921 he had left Toronto to become Principal at the Winnipeg School of Art.
In the earlier years of their friendship, Johnston had joined MacDonald and Harris on their journeys to Algoma. His paintings from those years express a strong decorative interpretation of the landscape. In later years, the artist’s style became more realistic and revealed a strong fascination with the qualities of light.
In 1927, Johnston changed his name to the more exotic title of `Franz’ Johnston, and found some success in commercial art galleries, where he was free from association with any formal group of artists.
1 Paul Rodrik, Franz Johnston in Retrospect, forward.
