Group of Seven

Group of Seven (G7), international organization officially established in 1985 to facilitate economic cooperation among the world's largest industrial nations; summit meetings of the member nations began in 1975. Members are Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and the United States. Representatives of the European Commission also have attended G7 meetings since 1981. The G7 discusses and coordinates its members' actions on economic and commercial matters and works to aid the economies of other nations. The leaders of the G7 nations meet annually in member countries. The Group of Eight (G8), which consists of the G7 nations plus Russia, was officially established in 1998, although Russia began participating in some G7 meetings earlier in the 1990s. G7 nations continue to meet without Russia on certain issues. Emerging nations had long complained that their interests were not addressed during the G7 meetings; these concerns resulted in the first meeting (1999) of the newly formed Group of 20 (G20), with the G7 nations plus Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, and Turkey.

Group of Seven. Group of 20th-century Canadian painters, based in Toronto, who found their main inspiration in the landscape of northern Ontario and created the first major national movement in Canadian art. The group was officially established in 1920, when it held its first exhibition in the Art Gallery of Toronto, the seven painters involved being Franklin Carmichael (1890–1945), Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston (1888–1949), Arthur Lismer (1885–1969), J. E. H. MacDonald (1873–1932), and Frederick Varley (1881–1969). Some members of the group had, however, been working together since 1913, and Tom Thomson, who was one of the early leaders, had died in 1917. Other artists joined after the 1920 exhibition. The members made group sketching expeditions and worked in an Expressionist style characterized by brilliant colour and bold brushwork. After initial critical abuse, they won public favour and Emily Carr was inspired by their example. The last group exhibition was held in 1931 and two years later the name was changed to the Canadian Group of Painters; thereafter the members worked more as individuals and developed separately.