Sold for: $22,500

PROVENANCE
Collection of the Artist
By descent within the Harris family to the present Private Collection

LITERATURE
Lawren Harris, A Disquisition on Abstract Painting, 1954, page 11

In the mid-1930s, Lawren Harris emerged from a period of artistic crisis onto a new and determined path into the realms of abstraction. He would go on to dedicate more than three decades of his life to exploring this, shifting and reinventing his focus and style consistently. After moving to Vancouver in 1940, he adopted an approach that he would classify as “abstract expressionism,” consisting of “completely new creations of experiences of nature, of ideas given life by pictorial means, of a range of subtle perceptions and new emotional structure created and clarified by visual means.” This work, with its subtle shifts in colour and its bold use of line, is typical of the compositions Harris was exploring in the late 1950s, and it demonstrates a freedom of expression and a confidence fostered by years of continuous experimentation.

As seen in many of Harris’s abstracts, this painting shows evidence of numerous layers of reworking. The result is a polychromatic radiance that seems to emanate from within the picture. The central luminescence presents an engaging contrast to the clearly defined animated lines that travel around the composition, weaving together and creating naturalistic and evocative forms, reminiscent of waves, clouds and mountain ranges—all subjects of Harris’s ongoing, career-long fascination.

We thank Alec Blair, Director/Lead Researcher, Lawren S. Harris Inventory Project, for contributing the above essay.

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