Alexander Young Jackson LL. D. (October 3, 1882April 5, 1974) was a Canadian painter and a founding member of the Group of Seven. Jackson made a significant contribution to the development of art in Canada, and was instrumental in bringing together the artists of Montreal and Toronto. He helped found the Group of Seven in 1920. In addition to his work with the Group of Seven, his long career included serving as a war artist during World War I (1917–19) and teaching at the Banff School of Fine Arts, from 1943 to 1949. In his later years he was artist-in-residence at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario. Early life and training Jackson was born in Montreal, the son of Eliza Georgina (Young) and Henry Allen Jackson. As a young boy, Jackson worked as an office boy for a lithograph company, after his father abandoned his family of six children. It was at this company that Jackson began his art training. In the evenings, he took classes at the Art Association of Montreal (1902). In 1905, Jackson worked his way to Europe on a cattle boat, returning by the same means and travelling on to Chicago. In Chicago, he joined a commercial art firm and took courses at the Chicago Art Institute. He saved his earnings and, by 1907, was able to visit France to study Impressionism. In France, Jackson decided to become a professional painter, studying at the Académie Julian in Paris with J. P. Laurens. Some of his most important artistic development was at the Étaples art colony, which he first visited in 1908 with his New Zealand friend Eric Spencer Macky. Jackson painted his Paysage Embrumé then and, to his surprise, it was accepted by the Paris Salon. Returning in 1912, he stayed with the Australian Arthur Baker-Clack (1877–1955). From this period date the Impressionist Sand dunes at Cucq and Autumn in Picardy, in both of which he used brushstrokes of high-keyed colour. Autumn in Picardy was bought by the National Gallery of Canada in 1913. Professional career When Jackson returned to Canada, he settled in Sweetsburg, Quebec, where he began painting works such as the Impressionistic Edge of the Maple Wood. He held his first exhibition at the Art Association of Montreal with Randolph Hewton in 1913. Unable to make ends meet and discouraged by the Canadian art scene, he considered moving to the United