Additional Images

Provenance:

Libby’s Art Gallery, Toronto.
Private Collection, Ontario.

Literature:

Dennis Reid, The Group of Seven, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1970, page 26.
Jeremy Adamson, Lawren S. Harris: Urban Scenes and Wilderness Landscapes, 1906-1930, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 1978, pages 33, 41 and 206 (footnote, “Urban Scenes”, no.28).
Charles C. Hill, The Group of Seven: Art for a Nation, Toronto, 1995, page 46 (chapter entitled “Ontario Society of Artists Exhibition, 1911” and page 294 (endnotes “The Beginnings”, no.11).
Peter Larisey, Light for a Cold Land: Lawren Harris’s work and life – an interpretation, Toronto, 1993, pages 25-26 and page 27, Figure 3.13, reproduced (as unlocated).

Exhibited:

39th Exhibition, Ontario Society of Artists, Toronto, 31 March – 29 April, 1911, no.87, illustrated.

Note:

In early 1909, Harris visited the lumber camps of Northern Minnesota to illustrate a story by Norman Duncan for Harpers Monthly Magazine. This canvas, a work from this period, and signed with initials “LSH” was exhibited at the Spring OSA show. Of The Return from Town, Harris wrote, “In this picture I have sought to contrast a party of tipsy lumbermen returning, intoxicated and hilarious, to their lumber camp, as against the still dignity, the high solemnity of the forest through which they are passing. I have attempted to bring out the dignity of nature as against the – less worthy qualities of human nature.” Larisey writes that Harris always conceived of art as having a serious moral role in society.
For Harris, the year 1911 was significant for several reasons. Firstly, Harris was elected a member of the Ontario Society of Artists and, after that year, Harris’ earliest form of signature, the block-like initials LSH, seems to have been discontinued. 1911 was also the year that Harris met J.E.H. MacDonald, the two artists sketching together along Toronto’s waterfront that winter.

The Return from Town, with its starry sky and towering trees casting long shadows on the powdery snow, exemplifies Harris’ concern for atmospheric light and anecdotal detail. This large-scale work demonstrates his affinity early on for strong vertical accents and the shimmer of natural light as well as an interest in figurative subject matter.