Study of a Verandah

Sotheby’s Important Canadian Art, auction, June 3 & 4, 1986, Lot 86 Private Collection, Toronto

Jeremy Adamson, “Lawren Harris: Urban Scenes and Wilderness Landscapes 1906-1930”, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1978, page 25

Pencil studies, oil sketches and paintings of houses between circa 1909-1926 are a distinctive period in the creative output of Lawren Harris. His depictions of urban scenes are captivating. This detail of a verandah, as well as studies of a tree and foliage, was perhaps executed in Toronto, Barrie or another Southern Ontario town, assisting to inform a later composition by the artist. According to Jeremy Adamson, “No other member of the Group of Seven painted Toronto subjects as consistently as Harris... The earliest downtown Toronto scenes are a series of pencil sketches that date from c. 1909-10... These drawings are all essentially descriptive and what appears to have excited the artist’s interest most was the picturesque variety of the architectural motifs.”