Lawren Stewart Harris 1885 - 1970

Collection of Bess Harris, Vancouver

Private Collection, Toronto

Toronto, Lawren Harris, Paintings, 1910-1948, Art Gallery of Ontario, 1948, no. 11

Jeremy Adamson, Lawren Harris, Urban Scenes and Wilderness Landscapes, 1906 - 1930. See p. 88, fig. 64, for an image of this sketch in the Art Gallery of Hamilton, illustrated in black and white. Also, p. 87, fig. 60, for a similar work by Harris

David P. Silcox, The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson, Toronto, 2003, p. 307, for the canvas, in the Art Gallery of Hamilton, based on this oil sketch; illustrated in colour

This work has been viewed under UV and it is in pristine condition. The signature has possibly been reinforced with a small touch up above the letters R and E. We would like to thank "In Restauro Conservart Inc." for examing this painting and their original notes are available upon request to Sotheby's.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Lawren Harris and J.E.H. MacDonald became friends in 1911 and occasionally painted together thereafter. In the fall of 1918, after Harris had discovered the rugged and unspoiled terrain of Algoma that spring, they again painted the same subject, this thin stream of water splashing down over a tumble of rock into a still pool. The location is probably Bridal Veil Falls near Hubert's Siding on the Algoma Central Railway.

Harris's treatment is reminiscent of Tom Thomson's late sketches, with its band of water across the bottom of the panel, the great hump of granite with all its facets and angles marked so definitely, and with the highlight of white water that cleaves the composition from top to bottom. The distant silhouette of trees against a cloudy sky in the upper right corner gives a sense of the immensity of the land in which this small oasis was found.

MacDonald's sketch of the same location (sold by Sotheby's in November 2007) has different character. MacDonald has stepped back a little further to include some autumn-coloured shrubs in the foreground which provide animation and give a longer perspective to the subject than Harris has. Both artists thought enough of their sketches, however, to turn them into major canvases back in their studios in Toronto. MacDonald's is now in the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and Harris's was snapped up by the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Both are faithful to the original inspiration.

Harris was still some years away from his gradual shift into abstraction, even from the stark and formalized treatment of land forms that crept into his painting when he drew his fellow artists west from Algoma to the bold and primordial shores of Lake Superior near Coldwell. Yet even here one can plainly see that his heart and mind were intrigued by the ambiguity between depth and flatness, between representation and symbolic shape, between actual colours and 'stand-in' colours, and between details and generalization. His canvas is even more stylized than this perfect sketch. His visceral (and later spiritual) response to the subject was emerging as the dominant issue to portray in his art. This innate energy, which he always brought to the act of painting, was to drive Harris on as an inquiring, exploring artist for the rest of his life.