L.L. Fitzgerald   1890-1956

L. L. Fitzgerald and Bertram Brooker, July 1936. Photograph courtesy of the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

L. L. Fitzgerald became known as the "Painter of the Prairies," even though he did almost no works of the flat mid-western countryside. He was the last artist to join the Group.

Born in Winnipeg in 1890, he was a contemporary of most of the other Group members. Brought up on his grandmother's farm in the south of Manitoba, he left school at fourteen and worked for a wholesale druggist, a stock broker, and an engraver before becoming a full time artist in 1912.

In later years, in order to earn a living, he did everything from interior decorating to scenery painting.

Fitzgerald was known in the east mainly through the works he sent to exhibitions. In 1918, the National Gallery purchased a scene of Late Fall, Manitoba, and, in 1925, one of his works was included in the Wembley show. The Group invited him to exhibit in their last two shows in 1930. Fitzgerald was invited to join the Group in the summer of 1932.

Fitzgerald was not an ardent artist-explorer like the other members, nor did he share in the Group spirit of camaraderie. Fitzgerald never exhibited as a member of the Group of Seven, but the next year he became a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters.