Lawren Harris Cheat Sheet

With Lawren Harris: The Idea of North now open at the AGO, we thought we would put together a list of important dates in the life of Lawren Harris to help you navigate the exhibition:

1885 – Born October 23 in Brantford, ON, the first of two sons to the wealthy Harris (of Massey-Harris farm implements) family.
1904-1908 – On the suggestion of his math professor at St. Andrews College at the University of Toronto, Harris traveled to Berlin to study art. Is introduced there to the concepts of Theosophy.
c.1907 – Briefly holds commercial artist position for Harpers. His one formal job.
c.1910 – Begins painting urban scenes in the Ward district in Toronto, home to many recently arrived immigrants.
1911 – Meets J.E.H. MacDonald at MacDonald’s exhibition of small paintings at the Arts and Letter’s Club in Toronto.
c.1911 – He and MacDonald travel to the Albright Gallery in Buffalo to see an exhibition of landscapes by Scandinavian painters. It was to be very influential to their style and concepts.
1913 – Invites A.Y. Jackson to Toronto. He and Jackson share a studio space at the northwest corner of Yonge and Bloor.
1914 – With Dr. James McCallum, finances the construction of the Studio Building which would provide living and working space for artists like Jackson and Tom Thomson.
1916 – Enlists in the Canadian Army, purchasing an officer’s rank, which was common in the British military among the upper classes.
1918 – His brother dies in action in WW1. Harris suffers a nervous breakdown and is discharged from the army.
1918-1919 – Organizes and finances painting trips via boxcar to the Algoma region of Ontario.
1920 – First Group of Seven exhibition. Held at the Art Gallery of Toronto (now the AGO).
1920 – Discovers the North Shore of Lake Superior and it becomes important subject matter for his paintings. A more minimal and abstracted style begins to form in his work.
1924 – First trips to the Rocky Mountains. His style continues to move further towards simplicity and abstraction.
1930 – Extended trip to the Arctic with A.Y. Jackson. The works relating to this trip mark the end of the landscape period of his work.
1932 – Group of Seven disbands following the death of J.E.H. MacDonald.
1933 – Forms the Canadian Group of Painters.
1934 – Becomes artist-in-residence at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Abstract period begins influenced by Kandinsky’s CONCERNING THE SPIRITUAL IN ART.
1938 – Moves to Santa Fe, New Mexico and with other artists forms the Transcendentalist Painters Group.
1940 – Moves to Vancouver, BC.
1948 – Retrospective held at the Art Gallery of Toronto.
1969 – Receives the Order of Canada.
1970 – Dies on January 29 in Vancouver.