Northern Lake, 1922

Roberts Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, North York, Ontario Sotheby's, auction, Toronto, 3 December 1997, lot 155 Mayberry Fine Art, Winnipeg Masters Gallery, Calgary Private Collection, Alberta

Paul Duval, "Lawren Harris: Where the Universe Sings", Toronto, 2011, reproduced page 212 as "Northern Lake" c. 1918 Charles C. Hill, 'Quiet Lake (Northern Painting 12)', in "An Important Private Collection of Canadian Art, Part II", Cowley Abbott, Toronto, 8 June 2023, reproduced page 56

From the streets of Toronto to the Laurentian hills, to Algoma and the north shore of Lake Superior, from the Rocky Mountains to the Arctic, Lawren Harris constantly explored the varying aspects of Canada’s many landscapes, seeking out new forms reflective of a burgeoning Canadian identity. Harris and A.Y. Jackson first painted on Lake Superior in October 1921 when they sketched briefly around Rossport and Schreiber. Harris would return to paint and draw on the north shore of Lake Superior almost every October until 1928. His Lake Superior paintings range from depictions of the rocks, hills, bays and interior lakes to dramatic visions of the light over the vast body of water. Harris frequently returned to the same sites, reinterpreting similar subjects in new pictorial languages. He painted the lake depicted in this sketch in 1922 on a panel measuring 10.5 x 13.5 ins (26.3 x 34.4 cms), the dimensions he favoured before 1925 when he began painting on panels measuring 12 x 15 ins (30.5 x 37.6 cms). The same lake is probably that depicted, though from a different angle, in another sketch measuring 10.5 x 13.5 ins titled "Bay, Lake Superior (Lake Superior Sketch LXXX)" (sold at Joyner Fine Art, Toronto, 14 May 2002, lot 50D) and the site is identified in a larger sketch titled "Above Coldwell Bay, North Shore, Lake Superior Sketch XX" (sold at Sotheby Parke Bernet (Canada) Inc., Toronto, 5 November 1979, lot 156). The fishing village of Port Coldwell became a favoured site when Jackson and Harris first painted there, and at nearby Port Munro and Pike Lake, in October 1922. The two 1922 sketches are characterized by a similar rhythm of yellow foliage crowning the distant slopes. In "Bay, Lake Superior" a bare hill with dead branches provides a foothold for the viewer overlooking the blue water. The paint has been rapidly applied, forms are sketchily defined. "Northern Lake" is more polished. The lake is viewed from above the foreground trees that are painted in varying shades of green. The darker conifers on the far shore are more sculptural and the shores affectionately embrace the body of water on all sides. The mood is tranquil, looking forward to the large canvas of the same lake depicted in Harris’ canvas "Quiet Lake", sold by Cowley Abbott from "An Important Private Collection" on 8 June 2023, lot 125. We extend our thanks to Charles Hill, Canadian art historian, former Curator of Canadian Art at the National Gallery of Canada and author of "The Group of Seven‒Art for a Nation" (1995), for contributing the preceding essay.