George Pepper

George Pepper came to his maturity as a painter during the interwar period stemming out of the traditions of the Group of Seven. Like many members of the subsequent Canadian Group of Painters, Pepper was interested in conveying the more human side to Canadian landscape. A native of Ottawa, George Pepper studied at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto (1920-1924) and then went to Italy and France to perfect his technique, notably at the AcadÚmie de la Grande ChaumiÞre in Paris. He lived first in Ottawa, then in Toronto where he began to teach at the Ontario College of Art in 1930. He became vice-principal of that institution in 1950.

He enlisted in March 1943 as a war artist and served until June 1946. After the war, he returned to teaching. He lived in Newfoundland and the Arctic, and in Spain in 1956 and 1957.