University College Collection

Currently comprising nearly 600 works, the University College (UC) Collection is the oldest on campus, as UC was the founding college of the University of Toronto. Many works have been donated over the years by members of the College's large and active alumni association. The collection focuses on Canadian art, including important pieces by the Group of Seven and some of their influential forerunners - landscape artists of the 19th century. Highlights of the collection include a small 1917 oil sketch by Tom Thomson and several works by the late Barker Fairley, a renowned professor of German literature at University College. The collection also has a number of portraits, especially of individuals who have been important in the life of the College over the years, and works of northern landscapes by such Group of Seven members as Lawren S. Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald, and A.J. Casson.

Image: Emily Carr (Canadian, 1871-1945), Alive, c. 1940. Oil on canvas, 60.3 x 45.1cm. Gift of UC student Miss Margaret Webster of Toronto via Messrs. McAndrew and Lawren Harris, 1942. UC985.