1 . You’ve likely heard of the Group of Seven, artists who travelled the remote landscapes of Ontario to capture their rough beauty by brush. But they weren’t the only artists who travelled rough and painted what they saw!
Fifty years before the Group of Seven. Frances Anne Hopkins was roughing it in a voyageur (船夫) canoe between Lachine (Montreal) and Fort William (Thunder Bay). She was born in England in 1838. She married Edward Hopkins, who worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company, and moved to Lachine, Canada.
In 1860, her husband was promoted to Chief Factor of Montreal, which led to the couple occasionally joining voyageurs on their journeys up the river, sometimes travelling all the way to Fort William by canoe. These trips would take weeks of rough living with the men who paddled the canoe. The couple travelled along the shores of the Mattawa River, where Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park is located today.
While the voyageurs paddled the canoe or set up camp, Hopkins would sketch (素描) what she saw. She documented the lives of voyageurs in her sketches in the same way we might take a photograph. Most of her paintings describing voyageurs were completed after she returned to London in 1870. Many of her works, such as Canoes in a Fog and Running a Rapid on the Mattawa River were displayed at the Royal Academy exhibition in England during her career.
By the time Frances Anne Hopkins began documenting the voyageurs’ lives, the need for them was declining. Faster travel methods such as trains and steamboats were becoming popular, and the demand for canoes was decreasing. However, one could argue that she arrived in the canoe just in time to capture the final years of the voyageurs before they could truly fade away.
1. Why did the author mention Group of Seven?| A．To show their achievements in art. | B．To attract the attention of art lovers. |
| C．To introduce the heroine of this article. | D．To prove their influence on other artists. |
| A．Her husband’s promotion. | B．Her love for travelling. |
| C．Her moving to new home. | D．Her interest in drawing. |
| A．Frances Anne Hopkins’ life. | B．Frances Anne Hopkins’ works. |
| C．Frances Anne Hopkins’ education. | D．Frances Anne Hopkins’ marriage. |
| A．Influencing the lives of voyageurs. | B．Changing the trends of travel methods. |
| C．Displaying her works at the Royal Academy. | D．Documenting the lives of voyageurs through art. |
