Images
Lawren S. Harris
Of all the Group of Seven members, Lawren Harris demonstrates the greatest range of personal and professional development. His oeuvre includes representational, expressionist, and abstract work, and, as this slide show attests, he often fused categories to masterful effect.
Houses, Gerard Street, a fairly early documentary work, is executed in a naturalistic style. The geometric composition, with its emphasis on scale, proportion, and perspective, reads like a skillfully conceived and executed student’s study. The urban subject was a familiar part of German art school curricula, and indeed Harris had studied in Berlin from 1904 until 1908. The skyline suggests an Impressionist influence or, perhaps more likely, a German Expressionist use of colour.
Little House also shows the evolving influence of Post-Impressionism. Here, Harris uses broad, flat patches of colour and a compositional texture reminiscent of Cezanne. The work clearly depicts a house, but, primarily through his handling of colour, Harris imbues his brick-and-mortar subject with a soul. In Expressionist fashion, he produces an emotional response, a connection between the work and the viewer.