08/25/2024

Lawren Harris – The Red House, Barrie

What a gift. This superb painting of a family vacation home was given by Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris to his daughter Margaret “Peggie” Harris Knox. (circa 1918, 10 5/8 x 12 3/8 in. oil on board)

Detail, Red House Barrie

“Here, though more decorative in style than his later phases, he has captured a country home in the midsummer afternoon with the same perceptive eye that would later allow him to paint the essence of the remote Arctic, ” writes Alec Blair, Director/Lead Researcher, Lawren S. Harris Inventory Project (essay here)

The same Red House in winter, gouache, 1924 via Mutual Art

The house pictured in Red House, Barrie is believed to be Woodend, a property owned by the Harris family on Kempenfelt Bay, on Lake Simcoe, north of Toronto, where he would often holiday.

Red House to scale

Although it’s unlike the vast, remote northern landscapes most associated with Harris, the clarity of his artistic vision is visible no matter what he painted, including this house.

Red House Barrie at Heffel, here.

About Lawren Harris, here.


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