an artist. Here, Jackson would create important pictures of events connected with the war. He later worked for the Canadian War Memorials as an official war artist from 1917 to 1919. Jackson produced forty-five artworks for the organization, including the powerful A Copse, Evening (1918)--a grim depiction of the catastrophic effects of the First World War on the Belgian landscape. A large number of his war paintings are in the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. On his return from WWI, Jackson again took up residence at the Studio Building. He removed Tom Thomson's easel, made by Thomson's own hand, from his studio and used it for all the subsequent pictures he produced in the Studio Building. Shortly after he returned from wintering on Georgian Bay, he learned that in his absence he had been included in an informal group of Studio Building artists, exhibiting for the first time, called the Group of Seven. The Beaver Hall Group was formed in Montreal in May 1920 with A. Y. Jackson as president. In his opening speech, Jackson emphasized the right of the artist to paint what they feel "with utter disregard for what has hitherto been considered requisite to the acceptance of the work at the recognized art exhibitions in Canadian centres. "Schools and 'isms' do not trouble us", he maintained, "individual expression is our chief concern". He identified its goals as being those of the Group of Seven, and over the years Jackson maintained the contact between Toronto and Montreal, supporting and stimulating the Montreal artists through regular visits, painting with artists such as Albert H. Robinson and others at various scenic locations, and correspondence. He kept them informed of events in Toronto and arranged for their works to be included in the Group of Seven exhibitions. It is through this kind of contact that he made lifelong friends of Beaver Hall artists Anne Savage, Sarah Robertson and Kathleen Morris. Jackson enjoyed painted Quebec and painted its varied landscape for many years. In his autobiography, he wrote: at first, in my painting, I was interested in the old farm houses, in the barns and the trees. Later it was snow that captured my attention; the sun and the wind continually changed its colours and texture. In 1932, Jackson depicted the Falconbridge smelter near Sudbury, in his painting Smoke Fantasy. He then began efforts at government lobbying, pleading in a letter to