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From correspondence, we know Harris painted around Banff in 1926 and around Lake Louise in 1928, yet there is little contemporary documentation about Harris’ trips to the Rockies after 1924. Nonetheless, it is clear from the volume of mountain paintings he exhibited in the late twenties that he frequently returned there to paint. Some of his strongest mountain canvases date from the end of the decade, including Mountains and Lake (fig. 1) exhibited in the April 1930 exhibition of the Group of Seven titled Mountain in Snow. It was subsequently shown in the Annual Exhibition of Canadian Art at the National Gallery of Canada in January 1931 as Lake and Mountain.

(Fig. 1) Mountains and Lake (Rocky Mountain Painting XVIII), 1929 Oil on canvas 36 7/32 x 45 13/64 inches (92.0 x 114.8 cm.) McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg. (1970.1.1) Gift of Mr. R. Laidlaw

Lisa Christensen, author of A Hiker’s Guide to the Rocky Mountain Art of Lawren Harris, has identified the subject as Mount Richardson, in the Slate Range, overlooking Lake Louise. An open expanse of water occupies the centre of the composition. As in his Lake Superior canvases and Maligne Lake, Jasper Park of 1924, a foreground shore provides the viewer with a sure footing. In both this oil sketch and the canvas painted from it, the snow-covered grey and white peak occupies the centre of the composition and the adjacent slopes curve down to the open water, almost the reverse of the 1924 composition. Most notable is the different palette of Harris’ later mountain canvases. As in his Lake Superior paintings of the late twenties, blue or blue-green are the dominant colours, expressing a spiritual light evolving from Harris’ own spiritual interests. In the canvas Harris has heightened the colour of the sketch, the whites contrasting more strongly and the blue peaks at the right becoming almost electric. Light penetrates the cool waters and the reflection in the water at the left has been strengthened. A blue ripple crosses the centre of the lake, like a stepping stone to the slopes beyond.

Charles C. Hill, C.M. From Lawren Harris & Canadian Master, Alan Klinkhoff Gallery, 2017

Charlie Hill began working at the National Gallery of Canada in 1972 and was Curator of Canadian Art from 1980 to 2014. The exhibitions he organized  and publications he wrote include “Canadian Painting in the Thirties” (1975), “To Found a National Gallery. The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts 1880-1913” (1980), “Morrice A Gift to the Nation The G. Blair Laing Collection” (1992) and “The Group of Seven Art for a Nation” (1995). He was co-curator and contributed essays to the catalogues of “Tom Thomson” (2002), “Emily Carr A New Perspective” (2006) and “Artists, Architects, Artisans Canadian Art 1890 - 1918” (2013). He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2000, received an Honorary Doctorate from Concordia University in 2007 and the Award of Distinguished Service from the Canadian Museums Association in 2012.