Lawren Harris: a Great Canadian Artist

I picked up a book at the Bells Corner's library here in Ottawa. The

books title is A Story of the Group of Seven by Harry Hunkin. The book

describes the emergence of a group of artist revolutionaries who wanted

to capture Canada as they saw it and display this vision and perception

of their new country in exhibitions across the county. They were subject to a

lot of criticism, for breaking away from the traditions of what art

should be, what it is and is not.

The Group of Seven sought to capture the beauty of the Canadian

landscape and countryside. The time was 1913 and culturally the

government was beginning to show an interest in the creative development

of life in Canada. At the this time, Eric Brown, the new director of the

National Gallery, declared 'The time is ripe for Canada....to have a

national gallery worthy of its best traditions...to aid the development

of Canadian art...' Yet the struggle was that in this period Canadians

lagged far behind the rest of the world in their artistic taste. Homes

were decorated with dark somber paintings - pictures of Dutch windmills

and cows at pasture. Wealthy art collectors would boast, 'We don't own a

Canadian painting!' And Canadian artists at the time represented

Canada, in their painting as if it were Europe.

But a few Canadian artists were awakened to the spiritual significance

of their environment - its strong rugged beauty.

A group of young Canadian painters came together...'drawn by the

irresistible urge to replace this 'foreign begotten technique' by a way

of painting dictated by Canada itself. So in their search for the

Canadian 'spirit' the Group made several sketching trips into the

north. 'We worked from early morning until dark in sun, gray weather or

rain. In the evening by lamp or candlelight each showed the other his

sketches. This was a time for criticism, encouragement and

discussion....'(Lawren Harris)

The country was exciting: the atmosphere clear and sharp, the colors

bright and crude if you will...and on top of all this variety there were

changes of seasons such as they hardly know in Europe. In Autumn it flamed with red and gold, in winter it was wrapped in a blanket of snow,

in the Springtime it roared with running waters and surged with new

life. So why stick to the barnyard, why paint cows and sheep and rural

tranquility? (A.Y. Jackson) We lived in a continuous blaze of

enthusiasm. We were at times very serious and concerned, at other times

hilarious and carefree. Above all we loved this country and loved

exploring and painting it...we began to range the country and each of us

painted hundreds of sketches. (Lawren Harris) So it was that the

creative and work of the Group of Seven resulted from a love of the land.

They were told seriously by art 'authorities' that there would never be

Canadian art because we had no art tradition. And when we wanted to know

how an art tradition had been created in any place at any age, there was

no answer. And so it went. It was all grist for the mill. It was all

very exciting and fun, for us it was a sign that new life was actually

stirring in the bones of art in Canada. (Lawren Harris).