According to Arthur Lismer, members of the Group of Seven had been particularly careful with depicting Canadian landscape paintings. They made their paintings corresponding to the landscape in Canada with typical Canadian features.[1]As a member of the Group of Seven, Lawren Harris’s work particularly emphasized the idea of the “North” as a Canadian national consciousness.[2]His landscape paintings were purposely depicting the typical scenes of the North of Canada with easily recognizable Canadian characteristics. In this paper, I will argue that Harris’s landscape painting shows Canadian identity is because the Group of Seven believed that idea of the “North” could define Canada’s national identity from an artistic perspective. Victor Rabinovitch stated that the “North” remains a cultural meaning for both the vast Canadian frontier and an idealized Canadian personality, and the “North” is a near-mythical wilderness of rivers, forests, tundra, and ice fields, defining our sense of space, environment, and visual identity.[3]In a sense, rivers, forests, tundra and ice fields has become a motif to describe Canada’s visual identity on paintings. This research paper will take Harris’s Baffin Island Mountains as an example to explain my argument.[4]Specifically, this paper will investigate the idea of the “North,” his actual exploration in the north of Canada, and his spiritual and theosophical belief about nature, which are the three most essential and significant factors to make his success happen in his career.[5]The importance of these three factors is reflected in his paintings.

The idea of the “North” was the essential spirit that Harris had always been promoting. In David P. Silcox’s view, the idea of the “North” could be identified as “the true north, strong and free.”[6]This idea was Harris’s direct answer to what should be honored and proud of as a national identity by Canadians. In the painting Baffin Island Mountains, there is no animal, human, or plant depicted. These features make the place look untouched, clean, and pure, which fit the idea of the “North” that this land is free. As the focus of this painting, Harris placed the mountains in the center, which is usually considered the most important spot in a frame. The mountains are placed continuously, and you can see clearly that some of the mountains are closer to you compare to those are in the back, showing both the strength and the vast land in the north of Canada. At the bottom the of painting, space is majorly occupied by snow, floes, and water. Also, the combination of the mountains and the water makes the whole painting look larger since this combination created a sense of distance, which again provides spectators a feeling of vastness. The idea of the “North” laid the ideological foundation for Canadian people to recognize Lawren Harris’s landscape paintings, and to believe those paintings could represent Canada. As long as the conviction that the Group of Seven’s appeal to ordinary-thinking Canadians would be acceptable and accepted is ensured, people would agree what Harris painted could function as a national identity.[7]Therefore, Canadians would recognize Harris’s landscape paintings and be proud of them as a national pride.

It is also important and necessary to notice that Harris had spent a significant amount of time exploring the north in Canada. In 1930, Harris and Jackson took the government supply ship S.S. Beothic from Nova scotia to Greenland and the Canadian Arctic posts include Baffin Island.[8]The idea of “North” was initially a spiritual truth for Harris, and this journey was significant because this belief of Harris eventually became a visual experience for him.[9]In another word, it had been a fact for Harris to see the actual place instead of an abstract idea. Silcox has argued that the boundary of the “North” had gradually changed from Lake Simcoe and Orillia at the beginning to Algonquin park and Georgian Bay, and then to Lake Superior, and then to the East Coast, and then to the mountain in the west, and finally ended at the Arctic.[10]This journey was even more meaningful since Baffin Island was the closest point to the north pole that he had ever been, which is norther than any location that the idea of “North” used to refer to. In a sense, Harris witnessed the idea and the land he had always been passionate about due to this journey. Meanwhile, it was also the time Harris considered the entire country as a northern nation by depicting his painted vision on the canvas.[11]Also, Harris encountered several extreme situations during this journey including endless fog and a fierce storm.[12]All the unusual experience he had in the Arctic when he was exploring this part of Canada’s landscape would have become valuable sources for his paintings. It cannot be denied or neglected that Harris gained rich visual perception and a better understanding of what was in the North due to this two-month journey. Since Harris explored the real place in the north of Canada, he obtained the evidence for his belief from nature. The experience Harris gained from this journey provided him essential support, so he could be encouraged to continue to promote his idea of Canada is a northern nation and idea of the “North” deserve the position of Canada’s national pride.

Furthermore, Harris’s theosophical thoughts also impacted his paintings by making his painting more like the “North” in order to bring the awareness of a national consciousness.[13]According to Michael Stoeber, Harris attempted to represent the essence of the Canadian landscape as the underlying principles of forms of the naturalphenomenon.[14]In the painting, there are multiple layers being applied to depict the blue sky in this painting. Although the sky is clear and bright in this painting without any cloud on it, you can see about six different degrees of blue in the sky. The layout of the blue is exquisitely placed. On the one hand, if you look down from the top, the blue bands are gradually diluting, ends up in a sense that the blue almost fades away. On the other hand, it seems that the blue bands are painted purposely to surround the mountains in the center since the shapes of the blue bands are curving and almost stick to the mountains. In other words, the blue bands are going higher wherever the mountain is going higher, going lower wherever the mountain is going lower. The use of multiple gradually varied blue bands effectively enriches the spatial sense of the sky. The function of these blue bands could be understood as to create a transitional space. In this case, the space in the sky would be felt even more voluminous, which again would bring a sense of vastness and pure. The blue bands, according to Jeremy Adamson, “emblematic of transcendent religious feeling.”[15]Since the arctic is in the great north as “a flow of ultimate power behind the bleakness,” Canadians are being the closest to this source, Canadians are spiritually advanced than others.[16]Adamson also argued that Baffin Island Mountainsis a revelation of Canadians’ geographically influenced destiny.[17]  The theosophical thinking made this painting more significant not only by its attractive form but also due to the metaphor could be possibly expanded based on the painting itself. The theosophy glorified the existence of Canadians and the idea of the “North,” therefore the idea of the “North” became more powerful in the spiritual world.

Now, we’ve looked at the idea of the “North” in relation to Harris’s landscape painting, his exploration in the north, and his theosophical thoughts. These are the aspects we should consider in terms of how Harris’s paintings brought the national identity to Canadians. In general, Harris expressed the idea of Canada’s national pride through his landscape paintings by emphasizing the features that can reflect the idea of the “North.” Harris was actively promoting the idea of the “North” as he and other members of the Group of Seven insisted that could represent Canadian identity. His idea provided the basis of the belief, so when he applied those reflecting features on the paintings, Canadians would recognize them as Canadian features. Hence, it is reasonable to accept his idea and his paintings to link to national identity. His journey to the arctic supported his idea by offering him the visual experience, and his theosophical thoughts sublimated both Canadian people and Canadian land.

 

 

 

Bibliography

Adamson, Jeremy. “Lawren Stewart Harris: Towards an Art of the Spiritual,” IN Canadian Art: The Thompson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto: Skylet Publishing, 2008): 69-87. edited by Jeremy Adamson, Katerina Atanassova, Steven N. Brown, Lucie Dorais, Charles C. Hill, Joan Murray, Roald Nasgaard, Dennis Reid, David P. Silcox, and Shirley L. Thomson

 

Hill, Charles C. “Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven,”The Visual Arts in Canada: The Twentieth Century(Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2010), 39-57.

 

Murray, Joan. “Three: The Fertile Years,”Lawren Harris: An Introduction to His Life and Art(Toronto: Firefly Books Ltd., 2003), 29-54.

 

Murray, Joan. “Chronology,” Lawren Harris: An Introduction to His Life and Art(Toronto: Firefly Books Ltd., 2003), 56-60.

 

Rabinovitch, Victor. “The North in Canadian Identity,” Queen’s Quarterly, Queen’s Quarterly 118, no. 1 (2011): 17-31.

 

Silcox, David P. “Lawren Harris,” The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson (Richmond Hill: Firefly Books Ltd., 2011).

 

Stoeber, Michael. “Theosophical Influences on the Painting and Writing of Lawren Harris: Re-Imagining Theosophy through Canadian Art,” Toronto Journal of Theology 28, no. 1 (2012): 81-103.

[1]As cited in Charles C. Hill, “Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven,”The Visual Arts in Canada: The Twentieth Century(Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2010), 41.

[2]Hill, “Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven,” 41.

[3]Victor Rabinovitch, “The North in Canadian Identity,” Queen’s Quarterly, (Queen’s Quarterly,2011): 19.

[4]Lawren Harris Painted Baffin Island Mountains on a canvas with oil paints, and illustrated the workat an exhibition held by the Group of Seven in December 1931. See Jeremy Adamson, “Lawren Stewart Harris: Towards an Art of the Spiritual,” in Canadian Art: The Thompson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto: Skylet Publishing, 2008): 85.

[5]David P. Silcox, “Lawren Harris,” The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson (Richmond Hill: Firefly Books Ltd., 2011), 27.

[6]David P. Silcox, “Lawren Harris,” The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson (Richmond Hill: Firefly Books Ltd., 2011), 25.

[7]Silcox, “Lawren Harris,” 25.

[8]Joan Murray, “Chronology,” Lawren Harris: An Introduction to His Life and Art(Toronto: Firefly Books Ltd., 2003), 58.

[9]David P. Silcox, “The Canadian Arctic,” The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson (Richmond Hill: Firefly Books Ltd., 2011), 377.

[10]David P. Silcox, The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson (Richmond Hill: Firefly Books Ltd., 2011), 25-26.

[11]Silcox, “Lawren Harris,”26.

[12]Adamson, “Lawren Stewart Harris: Towards an Art of the Spiritual,” 85.

[13]Murray, Joan. “Three: The Fertile Years,”Lawren Harris: An Introduction to His Life and Art(Toronto: Firefly Books Ltd., 2003), 40.

[14]Michael Stoeber, “Theosophical Influences on the Painting and Writing of Lawren Harris: Re-Imagining Theosophy through Canadian Art,” Toronto Journal of Theology 28, no. 1 (2012): 89.

[15]Jeremy Adamson, “Lawren Stewart Harris: Towards an Art of the Spiritual,” 86.

[16]Adamson, “Lawren Stewart Harris: Towards an Art of the Spiritual,” 86.

[17]Adamson, “Lawren Stewart Harris: Towards an Art of the Spiritual,” 86.