Theosophical Influences on the Painting and Writing of Lawren Harris: Re-Imagining Theosophy through Canadian Art

Abstract

Lawren Harris (1885-1970) was a prominent painter in Canada and the United States. He was instrumental in the forming of the Canadian Group of Seven in 1920, and in the 1930s he helped to organize the Canadian Group of Painters and the Transcendental Painting Group in New Mexico. Harris worked to promote the development of the arts in Canada, and he became an influential figure whose paintings are currently quite popular and valuable. In 1924 he became a formal member of the Toronto Lodge of the International Theosophical Society. He was a committed and active theosophist, and he published a number of essays and contributed to radio broadcasts on the topic. He was influenced by theosophical beliefs and ideas throughout his life, so much so that one might say that he re-imagined theosophy through Canadian art. This paper explores the nature and role of theosophical ideas in the visual art and writings of Lawren Harris. It clarifies and analyzes the way in which he drew upon theosophical theory in relating art to spiritual transformation and liberation, and in the development of his views of the soul, the artistic process, and intuitive and mystical experiences. It also illustrates how theosophical beliefs and ideas influenced and informed some of Harris's paintings. The paper also reflects in the conclusion on the nature and significance of Harris's thought and painting as a possible response or option to contemporary materialist theories of art, drawing briefly on related ideas espoused by Wassily Kandinsky and proposed in modern art therapy and practical theology.