The exhibit we wanted to see at the AGO was The Idea of North, which was mostly Lawren Harris' paintings And also some paintings and photographs by some of his contemporaries to offer contrast or parallels. His early paintings were largely of working class Toronto neghborhoods and people. One thing that inerested me was that in the early 20th century he was including black and Jewish people in his paintings with the same tone as pictures of white people. There was no casting minorities as exotic or heroic or different at all - at least not in tthe paintings we saw. Later he moved toward a much more idealized style where the "idea of north" was more evident. Linda noted that his later work reminded her of Georgia O'Keefe.
The notes for this one said it was typical of his early work where the factory looms up behind the homes of the people working in it
Here are a few more early ones
And a sample of later paintings
