Inward Journey

The first complete biography ever published of Group of Seven artist and spokesperson Lawren Harris.

Lawren Harris (18851970) is among the most iconic of Canadian artists. Harris was an outspoken defender of modernism and a very private person. Inward Journey offers a gripping and sympathetic account of the artist's public persona as the spokesperson for the Group of Seven and his championship of Canadian art and artists.

Born to great wealth, Harris spent much of his existence selflessly promoting Canadian painting and the interests of his fellow artists. But Harris's personal struggle to become an artist was long and complex, and he was beset by much turmoil throughout his life. When, early in 1930, he achieved a creative peak - in his mountain and Arctic canvases - he turned his back on representational art and spent the remainder of his career becoming an abstract painter.

Harris's unhappy first marriage, his flight to New Hampshire and New Mexico, his lifelong interest in theosophy, his sometimes overbearing attitude toward younger artists, and the full magnitude of his inner struggles are all dealt with fully in this sensitive, engaging narrative that captures the complexity of the man behind the mask.