A rare and important Arthur Lismer sketch is now available for private sale. It depicts Georgian Bay, a region synonymous with his legacy. He first visited the region in 1913 at the invitation of Dr. James MacCallum and returned in 1914 with Tom Thomson. From that point onward, Georgian Bay became a recurring destination, with documented visits spanning into the 1950s.

Lismer described the area as “a paradise for painters,” drawn to its thousands of islands, wind bent pines, and exposed granite formations. While other members of the Group of Seven often pursued the panoramic landscape, Lismer distinguished himself through a more intimate focus on what was happening at his feet, turning to the forest floor, rock formations, exposed roots, and dense entanglements to build his compositions from the ground up. In this work, that sensibility is fully present, balancing a close study of surface, texture, and colour with an opening outward to the water beyond, bringing together both the immediacy of the foreground and the broader presence of Georgian Bay. It captures the ruggedness of the formative Group years while anticipating the clarity and structure of his mature style, as seen in Canadian Jungle at the McMichael, making this a quintessential example of Lismer’s practice.