Born in Ottawa, artist and educator Alexander John Pepper studied under J.E.H. MacDonald and J.W. Beatty in Toronto before continuing his education at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. Influenced by the Group of Seven, Pepper became an Official Second World War artist and a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters in 1933. He taught at the Ontario College of Art and the Banff School of Fine Arts and was named to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1957. In 1960, he traveled to the eastern Arctic to study Inuit art. Pepper’s work is held in notable collections, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Canadian War Museum. He died in Toronto at 59.