The Group of Seven, American Philanthropy, and the Cultural and Racial Politics of the Interwar Commonwealth.

The article examines the Southern Dominion Tour, a travelling art exhibition from 1936 to 1939 featuring mainly paintings by Canada’s Group of Seven, sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a wealthy American philanthropic organization. Intended to promote nationalist and modernist artistic practices across British Empire dominions, the exhibition toured South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, reflecting broader imperial and racial agendas aimed at reinforcing liberal white supremacy amid perceived white settler decline. The article details the exhibition’s organization, reception—highlighting both acclaim and resistance in South Africa—and situates it within interwar Commonwealth cultural politics, including interactions between Canadian artists and South African modernists like Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef. It also explores how Carnegie philanthropy linked art, education, and racialized developmentalism, using cultural diplomacy to assert dominion status within the Empire while marginalizing Indigenous and Black artistic expressions.