What
do I love about being Canadian? Well… a lot of things, I believe we
have so much to be proud of but when I think about my little corner of
the Canadian universe, the Canadian Art world that is, one artist comes
to mind who I have loved ever since I was a little girl. His work
inspired me to paint before I had a bigger working knowledge of the
who-is-who in the art world, Lawren Harris of the Group of Seven.
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| Lawren Harris |
By
the end of his career Harris strove to paint pure thought in his
abstracts. The growth of his career and work was beautiful. I was always
taken with the way he described form in his landscapes. The smooth
shapes, the tones of blue, pink or purple. The rhythm in the linear
patterns he used to create everything from waves to clouds. It was like
he was painting another world that was still very close to home. I
always wished I could find the scenes he created in real life, but being
a city girl, never had that chance.
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| Mount Robson From the Northeast, 1929 |
When talking about
the Group of Seven today one has to acknowledge the standard discussion
around if this work is even relevant anymore. In a world that is so far
removed from these images what we are seeing appears to be closer to
what we believe is Canadian, in the sense of storytelling rather that
what is our actual experience. Yet somehow his landscapes express the
grandeur of the Canadian landscape that is at once honest and mythic. I
believe this sense of myth is important in terms of naming and
determining who we are as a people and what our priorities are. Harris’
sense of the vastness in landscapes connected to a very real sense of
the spiritual that pulsed within the mountains, skies and trees that he
painted and this sense has the potential to lift us up and act as a
reminder of what is precious in our natural world, which our fine
country is mainly comprised of.
I like to think that
this land we live in is a beautiful place however, if I am being honest
it is a world that hangs in a delicate balance and is at every moment
disappearing and becomes more and more connected to the world of myth
and memory instead of lived fact. This is why I think we need works like
Harris’ today to connect to, to remember the myths, to re-acknowledge
nature from our urban jungles (that get harder and harder to escape) and
I think there is the potential to look at these works with a focus on
saving this land. So our children and our children’s children won’t have
to reply on just images to know what this country once looked like.
You
can think what you like about the Group of Seven but you have to admit,
there is something magical about Harris’ work. I know that no matter
how many times I revisit these paintings I always find something in them
that inspire me.
xo Megan
Image List:
Lawren Harris, April 25, 1926, photographed by M.O. Hammond – Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Lawren Harris - Mount Robson From the Northeast – 1929 – Image Courtesy of Wikipedia
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