Provenance:

Joyner Canadian Fine Art, auction, Toronto, December 7th, 1999, lot 88.
Private Collection, Ontario.

Literature:

Lisa Christensen, A Hiker's Guide to the Rocky Mountain Art of Lawren Harris, Calgary, 2000, page 34.
Bess Harris and R.G.P. Colgrove, Lawren Harris, Toronto, 1969, page 76.

Note:

In the late summer of 1924, Harris took his first trip to the Rocky Mountains, probably under the advice of J.E.H. MacDonald who had visited earlier that summer. Accompanying Harris was his family and fellow Group of Seven member, A.Y. Jackson. This inaugural trip was clearly significant for Harris as almost every year between 1924 and 1929, Harris would spend months at a time sketching in the Rocky Mountains.

“Mountain Sketch VII” combines the lustrous greens found in his spring scenes, such as “Spring on Oxtongue River” (1924) with the familiar purple tones seen in other striking mountainscapes. Such a combination of colour is used by Harris to define every angle and shadow, thereby capturing the dramatic nature of this unique terrain. Christensen describes the technique: “Ranging from bright yellow to deep mauves and browns, blues, greys, and even red, these bold colours are not immediately noticed, but play a remarkable role. Together with white, each hue works to differentiate each layer of ice, each ridge of glacier, one from another.” Harris uses colour to define not only the sharpness of the mountains, but also the roundness of the lush hills that can be observed in the foreground of this sketch.

An avid believer in Theosophy, Harris was interested in divine mysteries and their relationship to human origins. The artist’s time spent in the mountains would provide an experience with the sublime that he had not previously encountered. Harris once described how he applied this awareness to his art: “If we view a great mountain soaring into the sky, it may excite us, evoke an uplifted feeling within us. There is an interplay of something we see outside of us without inner response. The artist takes that response and its feelings and shapes it on canvas with paint so that when finished it contains the experience.” “Mountain Sketch VII” conveys the dramatic visuals of the western Canadian landscape while capturing Harris’ deepening interest in abstract forms.