MOUNT BURKE & BAY OF ISLANDS PAINTED BY FRANKLIN CARMICHAEL

FRANKLIN CARMICHAEL (1890–1945)
Mount Burke (1,270 m  - 4,167 ft)
Canada (British Columbia)

In Bay of Islands from Mt. Burke, 1931, oil on canvas, 101.6 x 122.0 cm, 

McMichael Canadian Art Collection

The mountain
Mount Burke (1,270 m (4,167 ft), is a mountain located in northeast Coquitlam, British Columbia, north of Port Coquitlam on the ridge system leading to Coquitlam Mountain. Most of the mountain is part of Pinecone Burke Provincial Park.   Mount Burke was named for Edmund Burke by Captain George Henry Richards of HMS Plumper while surveying Burrard Inlet in 1859.
The mountain was placed in Pinecone Burke Provincial Park on the park's creation in 1995.
Many people confuse Mount Burke, with the much higher and larger Burke Ridge, which is more commonly known as Burke Mountain, and in the 1920s Burke Ridge was more commonly known as Dollar Mountain, after the Canadian Robert Dollar Company, who logged the lower portions of the mountain.

The artist
Franklin Carmichael was a Canadian artist and member of the Group of Seven. Though he was primarily famous for his use of watercolours, he also used oil paints, charcoal and other media to capture the Ontario landscapes of which he was fond. Besides his work as a painter, he worked as a designer and illustrator, creating promotional brochures, advertisements in newspapers and magazines, and stylizing books. Near the end of his life, Carmichael taught in the Graphic Design and Commercial Art Department at the Ontario College of Art (today the Ontario College of Art and Design). The youngest original member of the Group of Seven, Carmichael often found himself socially on the outside of the group. Despite this, the art he produced was of equal measure in terms of style and approach to the other members' contributions, vividly expressing his spiritual views through his art.  Carmichael was a passionate landscape painter. Many of his paintings depict the trees, rocks, hills, and mountains of Ontario. His earlier works had flat juxtapositions of colour, but as he matured through the 1920s he emphasized depth and three dimensional space. Beyond simple representation of picturesque views, Carmichael attempted to capture contrast.  Contemporary Emily Carr wrote that Carmichael's work was, "A little pretty and too soft, but pleasant."Carmichael was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.  In 1952, Dr. Ann Curtin and Carmichael's widow founded the Franklin Carmichael Art Group, now located at 34 Riverdale Drive in Toronto.


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2021 - Wandering Vertexes / Mountain paintings
By F rancis Rousseau

MANITOU MOUNTAIN PAINTED BY ALFRED-JOSEPH CASSON

ALFRED-JOSEPH CASSON (1898- 1992) 

Manitou Mountain (563 m - 1,847 ft) 

Canada (Ontario) 

 In Algonquin Provincial Park, 1954, Huile sur toile, 113,2 x 208,8 cm, peinture murale principale 

Collection MSTC

About the painting

In 1954 Alfred Joseph Casson was one of eighteen Canadian artists commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railway to paint a mural for the interior of one of the new park cars entering service on the new Canadian transcontinental train. Each mural depicted a different national or provincial park; Casson's was Algonquin Provincial Park (above) 

Casson chooses to reduce and simplify forms and textures within the landscape while maintaining drama and exploring the theme of the endurance of nature over man. Emphasis on crisp form, luminosity and an exploration of light and shadow are integral to this work. The rolling hills, billowing dramatic clouds hanging low in the sky, and rather barren forest culminate to instill a feeling of the sublime in its true sense. Casson is also very attentive to the details and renders with great precision, as here, the stag and deer that can be seen in the foreground, at the top of the first hill, and which seems to scrutinize the painter with attention. .

The mountain

Manitou Mountain (563m - 1847ft) is located within Algonquin Provincial Park and is the highest point in Haliburton County. The mountain’s name  Manitou is derived from the Native American (Algonquin) word relating to the concept of spirit beings and their interconnection to nature and life.

The artist

Alfred-Joseph Casson was a member of the Canadian group of artists known as the Group of Seven. He joined the group in 1926 at the invitation of Franklin Carmichael. Casson is best known for his depictions of landscapes, forests and farms of southern Ontario, and for being the youngest member of the Group of Seven.

The first public exhibition of his work was at the Canadian National Exhibition, in 1917. He was hired by the commercial art/ engravers firm Brigden's, owned by George and Fredrick Brigden.

In 1919 Casson moved to Rous and Mann where he was influenced by and assistant to Group of Seven member Franklin Carmichael to sketch and paint on his own. Carmichael and Casson then moved on to the first Canadian silkscreen printing firm, Sampson, Matthews Ltd, founded by artist J. E. Sampson and businessman C. A. G. Matthews. Carmichael introduced Casson to The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, where he met many well-known artists.

In the 1920s, Casson continued to paint during his spare time alone and with the Group of Seven. Alfred enjoyed watercolor.  In 1925 along with Carmichael and F. H. Brigden (Fredrick), he founded the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour.  In 1926,  he become member of the Group of Seven and also  became an associate member of the most conservative Royal Canadian Academy.

He and Carmichael left Rous and Mann Ltd. in 1926 to join Sampson Matthews. After Carmichael left in 1932 to teach at the Ontario College of Art, Casson became their Art Director and later their vice-president in 1946.

After the ending of the Group of Seven in 1932, he co-founded the Canadian Group of Painters in 1933. Several members of the Group of Seven later became members of the Canadian Group of Painters including Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer, A. Y. Jackson, and Franklin Carmichael.

In 1952, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Corresponding member.

Casson developed a painting style with clear colours and background designs.

In 1954 he was one of eighteen Canadian artists commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railway to paint a mural for the interior of one of the new Park cars entering service on the new Canadian transcontinental train. Each mural depicted a different national or provincial park; Casson's was Algonquin Provincial Park (see above) 

A. J. Casson  "retired" in 1957 at age 60, to paint full-time. He died in 1992, just three months short of his 94th birthday, and is buried on the grounds of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, along with six other Group of Seven members.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT EREBUS BY JOHN CARMICHAEL

JOHN CARMICHAEL (1800-1868)

Mount Erebus  (3, 794 m - 12, 448ft)

Antarctica (Ross Island)

 In  HMS Erebus and HMS Terror in the Antarctic,1847, oil on canvas,  

National Maritime Museum Greenwich, London.

The mountain 

Mount Erebus (3, 794 m - 12, 448ft), not to be confused with Mount Elbrus is the second-highest volcano in Antarctica (after Mount Sidley) and the southernmost active volcano on Earth. It is the sixth highest ultra mountain on an island, located on Ross Island, which is also home to three inactive volcanoes:  Mount Terror, Mount Bird, and Mount Terra Nova.
The volcano has been active since c. 1.3 million years ago and is the site of the Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory run by the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
Mount Erebus was discovered on January 27, 1841 (and observed to be in eruption) by polar explorer Sir James Clark Ross who named it and its companion, Mount Terror, after his ships, Erebus and Terror (which were later used by Sir John Franklin on his disastrous Arctic expedition). Erebus is a dark region in Hades in Greek mythology. Present with Ross on the Erebus was the young Joseph Hooker, future president of the Royal Society and close friend of Charles Darwin. Erebus was an Ancient Greek primordial deity of darkness, the son of Chaos.
The mountain was surveyed in December 1912 by a science party from Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition who also collected geological samples. Two of the camp sites they used have been recognised for their historic significance:
- Upper “Summit Camp” site (HSM 89) consists of part of a circle of rocks, which were probably used to weight the tent valances.
- Lower “Camp E” site (HSM 90) consists of a slightly elevated area of gravel as well as some aligned rocks, which may have been used to weight the tent valances.
They have been designated Historic Sites or Monuments following a proposal by the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.
Mount Erebus is classified as a polygenetic stratovolcano. ..

 - More about Mount Erebus 

The Painter 

James Wilson Carmichael also known as John Carmichael was an English marine painter.
Son of William Carmichael, a ship's carpenter, John went to sea at an early age, and spent three years on board a vessel sailing between ports in Spain and Portugal. On his return, he was apprenticed to a shipbuilding firm.  After completing his apprenticeship, he devoted all his spare time to art, and eventually gave up the carpentry business, setting himself up as a drawing-master and miniature painter. His first historical painting to attract public notice was the Fight Between the Shannon and Chesapeake, which sold for 13 guineas. He then painted The Bombardment of Algiers for Trinity House, Newcastle, for which he received 40 guineas;  it is still at Trinity House, along with The Heroic Exploits of Admiral Lord Collingwood in HMS "Excellent" at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, painted in collaboration with George Balmer. Another important early commission was for a View of Newcastle for which the city corporation paid him 100 guineas.
His name first appears as an exhibitor in 1838, when he contributed an oil painting, Shipping in the Bay of Naples, to the Society of British Artists. He showed both oil paintings and watercolours at the Royal Academy, his contributions including The Conqueror towing the Africa off the Shoals of Trafalgar (1841) and The Arrival of the Royal Squadron (1843).
He lived in Newcastle until about 1845, when he moved to London, where he was already known as a skilful marine painter.
Obviously, Carmichael was never sent  to Antartica to painted his HMS Erebus and HMS Terror in the Antarctic (above) and the shape of Mount Erebus is approximative enough to confirm he painted it in his atelier in London. 
In 1855, during the Crimean War he was sent to the Baltic to make drawings for The Illustrated London News. His painting of The bombardment of Sveaborg, which he witnessed during this assignment, was exhibited at the Royal Academy and is now in the collection of the National Maritime Museum.
He later moved to Scarborough, where he died in 1868.
He published The Art of Marine Painting in Water-Colours in 1859, and The Art of Marine Painting in Oil-Colours in 1864.

ODORAY MOUNTAIN PAINTED BY J.E.H. MACDONALD

J.E.H. MACDONALD (1873-1932)
Odoray mountain (3,137 m- 10,292 ft)
Canada (British Columbia)

In Mont Odoray, 1930, Huile sur carton, 21,6 x 26,7cm, Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Ottawa

The mountain
Odaray Mountain (3,137-m - 10,292 ft) is a summit located west of Lake O'Hara in the Bow Range of Yoho National Park, in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. Its nearest higher peak is Mount Huber, 3.86 km (2.40 mi) to the east. The standard climbing route follows the southeast glacier and ridge starting from Elizabeth Parker hut. Pronunciation sounds like the two words "ode array". Odaray Mountain is composed of sedimentary rock laid down during the Precambrian to Jurassic periods. Formed in shallow seas, this sedimentary rock was pushed east and over the top of younger rock during the Laramide orogeny. The first ascent of the mountain was made in 1887 by James J. McArthur, and he named it Odaray which is the expression for "many waterfalls" in the Stoney language. Other reports have it being named in 1894 by Samuel Evans Stokes Allen for the Stoney Indianword for "cone". However, it is possible that McArthur only ascended the lesser secondary summit cone (2965 m) now known as Little Odaray which is southeast of the true summit. The mountain's current name became official in 1952 when the Geographical Names Board of Canada rescinded the name Mount Odaray.

The artist
James Edward Hervey MacDonald RCA was an English-Canadian artist who initiated the first major Canadian national art movement. He was the father of the illustrator Thoreau MacDonald. n 1895, MacDonald took a position as a commercial designer at Grip Ltd, an important commercial art firm, where he further developed his design skills. In the coming years, he encouraged his colleagues—including future artist Tom Thomson—to develop their skills as painters. In 1920, MacDonald co-founded the Group of Seven, which dedicated itself to promoting a distinct Canadian art developed through direct contact with the Canadian landscape. The other founding members were Frederick Varley, A. Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, and Franklin Carmichael. MacDonald had worked with Lismer, Varley, Johnston, and Carmichael at the design firm Grip Ltd. in Toronto. Together they initiated the first major Canadian national art movement, producing paintings directly inspired by the Canadian landscape. Every summer beginning in 1924, MacDonald travelled to the Canadian Rockies to paint the mountainous landscapes that dominated his later work. By this time he had become somewhat alienated from the rest of the Group of Seven, as many of the younger members were beginning to paint in a more abstract manner.  Today, MacDonald is viewed with general admiration for his art, with one writer commenting, "no Canadian landscape painter possessed a richer command of colour and pigment than J. E. H. MacDonald ... His brushwork is at once disciplined and vigorous. His best on-the-spot sketches possess an intensity and freshness of execution not dissimilar from Van Gogh."

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2021 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

LE MONT GEIKIE PEINT PAR LAWREN HARRIS

LAWREN HARRIS (1885-1970)
Mont Geikie (3,298 m )
Canada (Colombie Britannique)

In Mountain, Tonquin Valley, Jasper, Huile sur toile, 1924 26.7 x 35.6 cm

 
La montagne
Le mont Geikie (3 298 m))  prononcé comme « geeky » , est un sommet situé dans le parc provincial du mont Robson en Colombie-Britannique, au Canada. Situé à 28 km (17 mi) au sud-ouest de Jasper , près de la vallée de Tonquin, le mont Geikie est le plus haut sommet des Remparts dans les Rocheuses canadiennes, l'une des plus belles chaines de montagnes au monde. Son sommet le plus proche est le mont Frase , à 8,0 km au sud-est, et la ligne de partage des eaux continentales se trouve à 3,0 km à l'est. Le mont Geikie est composé de quartzite de la période cambrienne. Cette roche a été poussée vers l'est et au-dessus d'une roche plus jeune au cours de l' orogenèse du Laramide. La paroi verticale de sa face nord mesure plus de 1 500 mètres  de hauteur et a été comparée aux autres grandes faces nord des Rocheuses canadiennes telles que North Twin, Alberta et Kitchener.
Le mont Geikie a été nommé en 1898 par JE McEvoy de la Commission géologique du Canada en l'honneur du géologue écossais Sir Archibald Geikie (1835-1924), qui fut directeur général de la British Geological Survey de 1882 à 190. La montagne a été étiquetée sur la carte topographique de 1911 d' Arthur O. Wheeler de la région du mont Robson. Le nom de la montagne a été officiellement adopté en 1951 après approbation par la Commission de toponymie du Canada . [
La première ascension du mont Geikie a été réalisée en 1924 par Val Fynn, MD Geddes et Cyril G. Wates via une route sud-ouest.  La première ascension de la face nord a été réalisée en 1967 par John Hudson et Royal Robbins (classe 5.9 ).  D'autres itinéraires sur la face nord incluent le Lowe/Hannibal  classe 5.10b ) en 1979 par George Lowe et Dean Hannibal,  Hesse-Shilling (5.10) par Mark Hesse et Brad Shilling en août 1994, et Honky Tonquin (VI+ 5.10 A3) par Seth Shaw et Scott Simper en juillet 1999.  La première ascension en solo de la face nord a été réalisée en août 2017 par Tony McLane du Canada. La voie d'escalade normale est la Face Sud-Est (IV, 5.5).

Le peintre
Lawren Harris, est un peintre canadien qui a joué un rôle fondamental dans la création du Groupe des sept, ce cercle de jeunes peintres qui allait bouleverser l'art de la peinture au Canada en quelques années.
Après des études à la Central Technical School et au collège St. Andrew, à Toronto, il part étudier à Berlin où il demeurera de 1904 à 1908. Il s'intéresse alors à la philosophie et plus tard à la théosophie.
En 1911, de retour au pays, il se lie d'amitié avec J. E. H. MacDonald. Ensemble, ils fondent le Groupe des sept. Harris devient le théoricien du groupe de par sa formation universitaire. Il défend les idées du poète irlandais George William Russell sur le rôle social de l'artiste. Un local, le Studio Building, procure à ces artistes un endroit pour vivre et travailler. En 1918 et 1919, Harris finance des voyages pour les artistes du groupe dans la région d'Algoma et au lac Supérieur, en Ontario. Séduit par l'endroit, Harris y retourne annuellement durant plusieurs années. Il développe alors le style qui le caractérise le mieux, couleurs vives et riches appliquées en couches épaisses, technique dite impasto. Harris peint également plusieurs paysages de la baie Géorgienne et plus tard des les montagnes Rocheuses.
Lui et plusieurs membres du groupe, dont Alfred Joseph Casson, Arthur Lismer, A. Y. Jackson et Franklin Carmichael feront partie du Canadian Group of Painters.
En 1969, il est reçu compagnon de l'Ordre du Canada.
Il meurt à Vancouver en 1970, où il s'était installé en 1940.
Lawren Harris est considéré comme un des peintres importants du Canada. Plusieurs de ses œuvres ont atteint des prix supérieurs aux estimations, comme en 2001 où sa toile Baffin Island, estimée à 1 million de dollars, a été adjugée pour la somme de 2,2 millions de dollars, ou encore Mountain Forms qui fut adjugé à 11,21 millions de dollars lors d'une vente aux enchères. Cette toile tient à ce jour le record de vente pour une tabelau canadien.

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2023 - Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau 

ESPLANADE RANGE PAINTED BY LAWREN HARRIS

LAWREN HARRIS (1885-1970)
Esplanade Range   (2,301 m - 7,549 ft)

Canada

In Athabaska at Jasper, oil on canvas, 1924
 

The mountains
Esplanade Range includes, from right to left, in the painting above :  Gargoyle mountain, Esplanade mountain, Chetamin, The Palisades. 
Esplanade Mountain (2,301 m - 7,549 ft)  is a mountain summit located in Jasper National Park, in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. The peak is situated 20 kilometres north of the municipality of Jasper, in the Athabasca Valley and is visible from Highway 16 and the Canadian. Its nearest higher peak is Cliff Mountain, 5.0 km (3.1 mi) to the west. Esplanade Mountain was named in 1916 by Morrison P. Bridgland for its long, flat top resembling an esplanade. Bridgland (1878-1948) was a Dominion Land Surveyor who named many peaks in Jasper Park and the Canadian Rockies. The mountain's name was officially adopted in 1956 by the Geographical Names Board of Canada.

Gargoyle Mountain (2,693m - 8,835 ft)  is a mountain summit located in Jasper National Park, in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. The peak is situated 23 kilometres north of the municipality of Jasper, and is a prominent landmark in the Athabasca Valley visible from Highway 16 and the Canadian. Its nearest higher peak is Cliff Mountain, 5.5 km (3.4 mi) to the west.  Gargoyle Mountain was named in 1916 by Morrison P. Bridgland for the fact a stream heads at the mountain, like a gargoyle or spout.  Bridgland (1878-1948) was a Dominion Land Surveyor who named many peaks in Jasper Park and the Canadian Rockies.  The mountain's name was officially adopted in 1956 by the Geographical Names Board of Canada.


The painter  
Lawren Stewart Harris, (1885–1970) was a leading landscape canadian painter, imbuing his paintings with a spiritual dimension. An inspirer of other artists, he was a key figure in the Group of Seven and gave new vision to representations of the northern Canadian landscape. During the 1920s, Harris's works became more abstract and simplified, especially his stark landscapes of the Canadian north and Arctic.  He also stopped signing and dating his works so that people would judge his works on their own merit and not by the artist or when they were painted.
In 1924, a sketching trip with A.Y. Jackson to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies marked the beginning of Harris' mountain subjects, which he continued to explore with annual sketching trips until 1929, exploring areas around Banff National Park, Yoho National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park. In 1930, Harris went on his last extended sketching trip, travelling to the Arctic aboard the supply ship SS. Beothic for two months, during which time he completed over 50 sketches.  "We are on the fringe of the great North and its living whiteness, its loneliness and replenishment, its resignations and release, tis call and answer, its cleansing rhythms. It seems that the top of the continent is a source of spiritual flow that will ever shed clarity into the growing race of America."(Lawren S. Harris, 1926)
For Harris, art was to express spiritual values as well as to represent the visible world. North Shore, Lake Superior (1926), an image of a solitary weathered tree stump surrounded by an expanse of dramatically lit sky, effectively evokes the tension between the terrestrial and spiritual.
The resulting Arctic canvases that he developed from the oil panels marked the end of his landscape period, and from 1935 on, Harris enthusiastically embraced abstract painting. Several members of the Group of Seven later became members of the Canadian Group of Painters including Harris, A. J. Casson, Arthur Lismer, A. Y. Jackson, and Franklin Carmichael.
From 1934 to 1937, Harris lived in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he painted his first abstract works, a direction he would continue for the rest of his life. In 1938 he moved to Sante Fe, New Mexico, and helped found the Transcendental Painting Group, an organization of artists who advocated a spiritual form of abstraction.
In 1969, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Harris died in Vancouver in 1970, at the age of 84, as a well-known artist. He was buried on the grounds of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, where his work is now held.
On November 26, 2015 his painting Mountain and Glacier was auctioned for $3.9 million at a Heffel Fine Art Auction House auction in Toronto, breaking the previous record for the sale of one of Harris's works.
In 2016 a film about Harris's life, Where the Universe Sings, was produced by TV Ontario. It was created by filmmaker Peter Raymont and directed by Nancy Lang.
Source:
- Lawren S. Harris biography in  National Gallery of Canada notice

ISOLATION PEAK PAINTED BY LAWREN S. HARRIS

     

  

 

LAWREN S. HARRIS  (1885–1970)  

Isolation peak (3,983 m - 13,067 ft)

United States of America

                                                                    1. painted in 1930 

 2.  painted between 1925  
3.  painted between 1925 and 1930 

The painter 
Lawren Stewart Harris, (1885–1970) was a leading landscape canadian painter, imbuing his paintings with a spiritual dimension. An inspirer of other artists, he was a key figure in the Group of Seven and gave new vision to representations of the northern Canadian landscape. During the 1920s, Harris's works became more abstract and simplified, especially his stark landscapes of the Canadian north and Arctic.  He also stopped signing and dating his works so that people would judge his works on their own merit and not by the artist or when they were painted.
In 1924, a sketching trip with A.Y. Jackson to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies marked the beginning of Harris' mountain subjects, which he continued to explore with annual sketching trips until 1929, exploring areas around Banff National Park, Yoho National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park. In 1930, Harris went on his last extended sketching trip, travelling to the Arctic aboard the supply ship SS. Beothic for two months, during which time he completed over 50 sketches.  "We are on the fringe of the great North and its living whiteness, its loneliness and replenishment, its resignations and release, tis call and answer, its cleansing rhythms. It seems that the top of the continent is a source of spiritual flow that will ever shed clarity into the growing race of America."
(Lawren S. Harris, 1926)
For Harris, art was to express spiritual values as well as to represent the visible world. North Shore, Lake Superior (1926), an image of a solitary weathered tree stump surrounded by an expanse of dramatically lit sky, effectively evokes the tension between the terrestrial and spiritual.
The resulting Arctic canvases that he developed from the oil panels marked the end of his landscape period, and from 1935 on, Harris enthusiastically embraced abstract painting. Several members of the Group of Seven later became members of the Canadian Group of Painters including Harris, A. J. Casson, Arthur Lismer, A. Y. Jackson, and Franklin Carmichael.
From 1934 to 1937, Harris lived in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he painted his first abstract works, a direction he would continue for the rest of his life. In 1938 he moved to Sante Fe, New Mexico, and helped found the Transcendental Painting Group, an organization of artists who advocated a spiritual form of abstraction.
In 1969, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Harris died in Vancouver in 1970, at the age of 84, as a well-known artist. He was buried on the grounds of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, where his work is now held.
On November 26, 2015 his painting Mountain and Glacier was auctioned for $3.9 million at a Heffel Fine Art Auction House auction in Toronto, breaking the previous record for the sale of one of Harris's works.
In 2016 a film about Harris's life, Where the Universe Sings, was produced by TV Ontario. It was created by filmmaker Peter Raymont and directed by Nancy Lang.
Reference
- Lawren S. Harris biography in  National Gallery of Canada notice


The mountain 
Residing far away from just about everywhere, the well-named Isolation Peak (3,983 m - 13,067 ft) occupies some prime terrain at the southern end of the great Rocky Mountain National Park, near Georgetown, Colorado, United States. Based on peakery data, it ranks as the 606th highest mountain in Colorado and the 848th highest mountain in the United States.
 For now at least, Isolation's vast summit view will stay her own, reserved for enduring souls that love solitude and long for even the obscure summits of Rocky Mountain National Park. So, if you like sacred places, then see for yourself the unique views Longs Peak, Mount Alice, Paradise Park and the pristine Fifth Lake area of East Inlet Basin. Most of all, go get Isolated!
The officially named Isolation Peak resides directly on the Continental Divide, a few miles south of Mount Alice and a few miles north of Ogalalla Peak. Its rocky summit towers over four different drainages, two west facing watersheds, (East Inlet & Paradise Park) and another two that face east (Thunder Lake & Frigid Lake.)
The west side of Isolation Peak harbors some of Colorado's most pristine land. Paradise Park is a designated Research Natural Area that is used for scientific investigations which requires the area to be unaltered by human intervention. Day hiking is allowed, but there are no maintained trails and camping is not allowed. The reclusive Fifth Lake area is another distant place protected by another long 8-mile approach.
From the Divide, the eastern aspects of Isolation Peak are named Wild Basin. Logistically, one can argue that Wild Basin is no more spectacular than the western aspects of East Inlet or Paradise Park. However, Wild Basin's proximity to Denver makes for a familiar, and well-named place. Protected by National Park status, the vast Wild Basin is known for its long approaches and extensive trail system. Many beautiful alpine lakes reside here, protected by miles of tree-laden landscape. Even further away and beyond those lakes resides obscure mountainous terrain. Peaks like Copeland Mountain, Ouzel Peak, Mount Alice, Tanima Peak and Chiefs Head, make up a natural boundary for Wild Basin. Wild Basin is within RMNP boundaries, if interested, you will need a camping permit to split your 17-mile adventure into two days. Attaining Wild Basin camping permits is not as difficult as you may think; just stay away from weekend crowds.
The nearest peaks are Mahana Peak, Eagles Beak, The Cleaver, Ouzel Peak, Tanima Peak, and Copeland Mountain. Isolation Peak belongs to the Rocky Mountain National Park Peak Challenge peak list. See the Isolation Peak map, 3D fly around, and the Isolation Peak photos to get a better sense of the mountain.
Climbing 
Isolation Peak is aptly named: far from any trailheads, it seems to be seldom climbed. The approach from the eastern side is from Wild Basin, about 13 miles south of Estes Park.
Camp below Bluebird Lake, about 5.5 miles from the trailhead,  to get an early start. Try to get a permit for the Upper Ouzel Creek campsite, which is said to be the prettiest in the area. Located above the trail in a stone perch, with the steep slopes of Copeland Mountain and a small waterfall across the valley, it is indeed a lovely site. The Indian Paintbrush and Columbine flowers are spectacular.
From Bluebird Lake, the route ascends a slope to the north, over fairly steep and often loose talus, to a relatively flat bench. Cairns mark a reasonably good route to the top.  The best way to avoid the bushes is to head to the west, directly down toward the creek flowing from Pipit Lake toward Bluebird Lake. Two small clearings are linked and lead to the creek area, which is free of the dense bushes; then follow the creek up toward Pipit Lake. Due to the global change of climate, many mountains are now free of snow, the cirque between Ouzel Peak and Isolation Peak (one route to the top) still has quite a bit of snow.
There is an other way, via Isolation Lake.
From the Pipit Lake area, head up to the right.  From here there is an obvious route up to the saddle between Isolation Peak, and Mahana Peak, then up the ridge to the summit. On can go up directly toward the summit, over fairly steep but mostly stable talus.
There is a PVC pipe for the summit register, but no register, just a Ziploc freezer bag containing several slips of paper.
It appears that this peak is not climbed often (perhaps a dozen times per year).  There are some dramatic views to Isolation Lake, to the south ridge of Isolation Peak, and especially to the west down to Fifth Lake, which has some angular rock formations. There is a steep drop-off on the west side of Isolation Peak.
References 
- Isolation peak notice in Summit.org
- Isolation peak notice in Peakery 
- Gordon S. Novak Jr. climbing route

PIC ISLAND PAINTED BY LAWREN S. HARRIS

LAWREN S. HARRIS (1885-1970) 

Pic Island (312 m- 1024 ft)

Canada (Ontario) 

 In Pic Island, lake Ontario, oil on beaverboard, 1924, National Gallery of Canada.

The hill 
Pic island ((312 m- 1024 ft) is part of the Neys Provincial Park is a Natural Environment Class provincial park on the north shore of Lake Superior, just west of Marathon, Ontario, Canada. The ghost village of Coldwell, which lies just outside the east boundary of the park, was home to an old railway and fishing community until the 1960s. All that remains of the village now are a few foundations, shipwrecks in the harbour and a cemetery. Within park boundaries is also the muse for Group of Seven member Lawren Harris (see above), who in 1924 painted the now famous image of Pic Island. Only the hardy survive here, including subarctic plants and a rare herd of woodland caribou.

The painter
Lawren Stewart Harris was a leading landscape canadian painter, imbuing his paintings with a spiritual dimension. An inspirer of other artists, he was a key figure in the Group of Seven and gave new vision to representations of the northern Canadian landscape. During the 1920s, Harris's works became more abstract and simplified, especially his stark landscapes of the Canadian north and Arctic. He also stopped signing and dating his works so that people would judge his works on their own merit and not by the artist or when they were painted.
In 1924, a sketching trip with A.Y. Jackson to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies marked the beginning of Harris' mountain subjects, which he continued to explore with annual sketching trips until 1929, exploring areas around Banff National Park, Yoho National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park. In 1930, Harris went on his last extended sketching trip, travelling to the Arctic aboard the supply ship SS. Beothic for two months, during which time he completed over 50 sketches. "We are on the fringe of the great North and its living whiteness, its loneliness and replenishment, its resignations and release, tis call and answer, its cleansing rhythms. It seems that the top of the continent is a source of spiritual flow that will ever shed clarity into the growing race of America."(Lawren S. Harris, 1926)
For Harris, art was to express spiritual values as well as to represent the visible world. North Shore, Lake Superior (1926), an image of a solitary weathered tree stump surrounded by an expanse of dramatically lit sky, effectively evokes the tension between the terrestrial and spiritual.
The resulting Arctic canvases that he developed from the oil panels marked the end of his landscape period, and from 1935 on, Harris enthusiastically embraced abstract painting. Several members of the Group of Seven later became members of the Canadian Group of Painters including Harris, A. J. Casson, Arthur Lismer, A. Y. Jackson, and Franklin Carmichael.
From 1934 to 1937, Harris lived in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he painted his first abstract works, a direction he would continue for the rest of his life. In 1938 he moved to Sante Fe, New Mexico, and helped found the Transcendental Painting Group, an organization of artists who advocated a spiritual form of abstraction.
In 1969, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Harris died in Vancouver in 1970, at the age of 84, as a well-known artist. He was buried on the grounds of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, where his work is now held.
On November 26, 2015 his painting Mountain and Glacier was auctioned for $3.9 million at a Heffel Fine Art Auction House auction in Toronto, breaking the previous record for the sale of one of Harris's works.
In 2016 a film about Harris's life, Where the Universe Sings, was produced by TV Ontario. It was created by filmmaker Peter Raymont and directed by Nancy Lang.

___________________________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT SCHAFFER PAINTED BY LAWREN HARRIS

LAWREN S. HARRIS (1885-1970)

Mount Schaffer (2,962 m - 9,711 ft)

 Canada

In Mount Schaffer, Yoho national park, oil on canvas, 1926

The mountain 
Mount Schaffer (2,962 m- 9,711ft) was named in 1909 after Mary Schaffer.
Schaffer, a native of Pennsylvania, accompanied the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences on a trip to the Canadian Rockies with Mary Vaux in 1889. The Rockies made an obvious impression on Mary, who was an accomplished artist, writer and photographer and she returned annually to explore until finally moving to Banff in 1912. Although Mount Schaffer overlooks one of Yoho National Park’s scenic gems: Lake O’Hara, Mary Schaffer is more well-known for her exploration of Maligne Lake in Jasper National Park. In addition to being the first tourist in Jasper National Park, in 1908, she was likely the first non-native person to see Maligne Lake since it was discovered 32 years earlier. Mount Schaffer was first climbed in 1909 by M. Goddard and W. S. Richardson.

The painter 
Lawren Stewart Harris was a leading landscape canadian painter. An inspirer of other artists, he was a key figure in the Group of Seven and gave new vision to representations of the northern Canadian landscape. During the 1920s, Harris's works became more abstract and simplified, especially his stark landscapes of the Canadian north and Arctic.  He also stopped signing and dating his works so that people would judge his works on their own merit and not by the artist or when they were painted.
In 1924, a sketching trip with A.Y. Jackson to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies marked the beginning of Harris' mountain subjects, which he continued to explore with annual sketching trips until 1929, exploring areas around Banff National Park, Yoho National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park. In 1930, Harris went on his last extended sketching trip, travelling to the Arctic aboard the supply ship SS. Beothic for two months, during which time he completed over 50 sketches.  "We are on the fringe of the great North and its living whiteness, its loneliness and replenishment, its resignations and release, tis call and answer, its cleansing rhythms. It seems that the top of the continent is a source of spiritual flow that will ever shed clarity into the growing race of America."
(Lawren S. Harris, 1926)
For Harris, art was to express spiritual values as well as to represent the visible world. North Shore, Lake Superior (1926), an image of a solitary weathered tree stump surrounded by an expanse of dramatically lit sky, effectively evokes the tension between the terrestrial and spiritual.
The resulting Arctic canvases that he developed from the oil panels marked the end of his landscape period, and from 1935 on, Harris enthusiastically embraced abstract painting. Several members of the Group of Seven later became members of the Canadian Group of Painters including Harris, A. J. Casson, Arthur Lismer, A. Y. Jackson, and Franklin Carmichael.
From 1934 to 1937, Harris lived in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he painted his first abstract works, a direction he would continue for the rest of his life. In 1938 he moved to Sante Fe, New Mexico, and helped found the Transcendental Painting Group, an organization of artists who advocated a spiritual form of abstraction.
In 1969, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Harris died in Vancouver in 1970, at the age of 84, as a well-known artist. He was buried on the grounds of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, where his work is now held.
On November 26, 2015 his painting Mountain and Glacier was auctioned for $3.9 million at a Heffel Fine Art Auction House auction in Toronto, breaking the previous record for the sale of one of Harris's works.
In 2016 a film about Harris's life, Where the Universe Sings, was produced by TV Ontario. It was created by filmmaker Peter Raymont and directed by Nancy Lang.

CAPE NORTH PEINT PAR JOSEPH SYDNEY HALLAM

JOSEPH SYDNEY HALLAM (1898-1953)
Cape North (532m)
Canada (Nouvelle-Ecosse)

In Cape Breton Harbour, 1950, huile sur toile puis sérigraphie, Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, Ottawa

Le relief
Cape North (532m) est un promontoire situé à l'extrémité nord-est de l'île du Cap-Breton situé dans le comté de Victoria, Nouvelle-Écosse, Canada. Cape North contient les reliefs de Pollett's Cove Wilkie Sugar Loaf et Aspy Fault ainsi que les zones non constituées en société de South Harbor et Dingwall. Les Miꞌkmaq l'appelaient Uktutuncok, ce qui signifie « la plus haute montagne ». On prétend que le Cap Nord a été la « prema tiersa vista » (première terre vue) par l'explorateur John Cabot. Malgré la polémique toujours en cours, l'événement est commémoré par le parc provincial Cabots Landing . Le phare de Cape North a été construit en 1874 avec une balis anti brouillard ajoutée en 1906. Il a été supprimé en 1989 et remplacé par une balise électronique en 2010.

Le peintre
Joseph Sydney Hallam est né à Manchester, en Angleterre, et a déménagé au Canada avec sa famille à l'âge de 12 ans. J.S. Hallam a étudié l'art à la Hamilton Technical School, à la Toronto Central Technical School et à l'Ontario College of Art, sous l'enseignement de J.W. Beatty.
En 1921, il travaille pour l'imprimerie torontoise Sampson-Matthews Ltd. Cette collaboration perdura pendant des années et plusieurs J.S. Les peintures Hallam ont été reproduites sous forme de sérigraphies par Sampson-Matthews entre 1942 et 1953.
Les peintures qu'il a réalisées représentant des sites et des villages historiques canadiens ont été exposées à l'Exposition nationale canadienne et reproduites dans le magazine Canadian Homes and Gardens.
Dans les années 1930, l’artiste travaille l’aquarelle et est membre de la Société canadienne des aquarellistes. Il était également membre de la Société des artistes de l'Ontario (en tant que président en 1948) et du prestigieux Arts and Letters Club de Toronto.
J.S. Hallam fut également un collègue de Franklin Carmichael, membre du Groupe des Sept, chez Sampson-Matthews.
J.S. Hallam se considérait avant tout comme un illustrateur publicitaire et a laissé sa marque dans ce domaine. Au cours des années 1940, en plus de travailler à Sampson-Matthews, il enseigne le soir à l'Ontario College of Art. Il devient membre associé de l'Académie royale canadienne en 1943 et membre à part entière en 1950.
J.S. Les peintures de Hallam représentent souvent des scènes simples, montrant des ports en Nouvelle-Écosse, des fermes au Québec, des routes secondaires en Ontario, des gens nageant sous de petites chutes, des églises, des lacs et des bois d’automne.
J.S. Hallam est décédé en 1953 à l'âge de 55 ans.
Œuvres de J.S. Hallam sont détenus par le Musée des beaux-arts du Canada, le Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario, l'Art Museum of London, en Ontario, la reine Elizabeth II et d'autres prestigieuses collections privées.
 ________________________________________

2011-2024 - Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

THE RAMPARTS PAINTED BY LAWREN S. HARRIS

 LAWREN S. HARRIS (1885-1970)

Dungeon Peak - The Ramparts (3, 219 m - 10, 266 ft)  

Canada

 In The Ramparts Tonquin Valley, oil on canvas,  no dating

The mountain 

Dungeon Peak (3, 219 m - 10, 266 ft) is located on the border of Alberta and British Columbia. Named in 1916, Dungeon peak is one of the 10 named peaks by the Alpine Club of Canada part of The Ramparts, such as Bastion, Parapet etc.. They form a western boundary for the Tonquin Valley. Amethyst Lake lies to the east, while the headwaters of the Fraser River bound it to the west.

The Ramparts are a mountain range in the Canadian Rockies; part of the Park Ranges, they straddle the Continental Divide and lie partly within Jasper National Park in Alberta and Mount Robson Provincial Park in British Columbia.

The first ascent of Dungeon peak was made  in 1933 by  Rex Gibson, R.C. Hind, E.L. Woolf

The most famous cliimbing route is East Face IV 5.7, another of the prominent east-facing rib routes. Not quite as aesthetic as the E Face of Oubliette (2 days climbing route) but still a very worthwhile outing. Mostly a rock route but take ice gear for both the ascent and descent.


The painter 
Lawren Stewart Harris was a leading landscape canadian painter. An inspirer of other artists, he was a key figure in the Group of Seven and gave new vision to representations of the northern Canadian landscape. During the 1920s, Harris's works became more abstract and simplified, especially his stark landscapes of the Canadian north and Arctic.  He also stopped signing and dating his works so that people would judge his works on their own merit and not by the artist or when they were painted.
In 1924, a sketching trip with A.Y. Jackson to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies marked the beginning of Harris' mountain subjects, which he continued to explore with annual sketching trips until 1929, exploring areas around Banff National Park, Yoho National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park. In 1930, Harris went on his last extended sketching trip, travelling to the Arctic aboard the supply ship SS. Beothic for two months, during which time he completed over 50 sketches.  "We are on the fringe of the great North and its living whiteness, its loneliness and replenishment, its resignations and release, tis call and answer, its cleansing rhythms. It seems that the top of the continent is a source of spiritual flow that will ever shed clarity into the growing race of America."
(Lawren S. Harris, 1926)
For Harris, art was to express spiritual values as well as to represent the visible world. North Shore, Lake Superior (1926), an image of a solitary weathered tree stump surrounded by an expanse of dramatically lit sky, effectively evokes the tension between the terrestrial and spiritual.
The resulting Arctic canvases that he developed from the oil panels marked the end of his landscape period, and from 1935 on, Harris enthusiastically embraced abstract painting. Several members of the Group of Seven later became members of the Canadian Group of Painters including Harris, A. J. Casson, Arthur Lismer, A. Y. Jackson, and Franklin Carmichael.
From 1934 to 1937, Harris lived in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he painted his first abstract works, a direction he would continue for the rest of his life. In 1938 he moved to Sante Fe, New Mexico, and helped found the Transcendental Painting Group, an organization of artists who advocated a spiritual form of abstraction.
In 1969, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Harris died in Vancouver in 1970, at the age of 84, as a well-known artist. He was buried on the grounds of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, where his work is now held.
On November 26, 2015 his painting Mountain and Glacier was auctioned for $3.9 million at a Heffel Fine Art Auction House auction in Toronto, breaking the previous record for the sale of one of Harris's works.
In 2016 a film about Harris's life, Where the Universe Sings, was produced by TV Ontario. It was created by filmmaker Peter Raymont and directed by Nancy Lang.

MOUNT THULE PAINTED BY LAWREN HARRIS

LAWREN HARRIS (1885-1970)

Mount Thule  (1,711m- 5,614 ft)

Canada - Nunavut

About Nunavut
Nunavut is the newest, largest, and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the boundaries had been contemplatively drawn in 1993. The creation of Nunavut resulted in the first major change to Canada's political map since the incorporation of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1949.

The mountain 

Mount Thule (1,711m- 5,614 ft) is a mountain on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada. It is located 38 km (24 mi) north of Pond Inlet on Baffin Island. It is associated with the Baffin Mountains which in turn form part of the Arctic Cordillera mountain system. The Baffin Mountains are ice-capped mountains in which some of the highest peaks of eastern North America.  While they could be considered a single mountain range as they are separated by bodies of water to make Baffin Island, this is not true, as they are closely related to the other mountain ranges that make the much larger Arctic Cordillera mountain range. The highest point is Mount Odin at (2,147 m -7,044 ft) while Mount Asgard (2,015 m - 6,611 ft) is perhaps the most famous. The highest point in the northern Baffin Mountains is Qiajivik Mountain at (1,963 m -6,440 ft). Mount Tule is the fourth highest point (1,711m- 5,614 ft).  Being situated north of the Arctic tree line, there are no trees in the Baffin Mountains but only rocks which are primarily deeply dissected granitic rocks. It was covered with ice until about 1500 years ago, and vast parts of it are still ice-covered.  The dominant vegetation in the Baffin Mountains is a discontinuous cover of mosses, lichens and cold-hardy vascular plants such as sedge and cottongrass.

Geologically, the Baffin Mountains form the eastern edge of the Canadian Shield, which covers much of Canada's landscape. 

One of the first mountaineering expeditions in the Baffin Mountains was in 1934 by J.M Wordie, in which two peaks called Pioneer Peak and Longstaff Tower were climbed. The Auyuittuq National Park was established in 1976. It features many of Arctic wilderness, such as fjords, glaciers and ice fields. In Inuktitut - the language of Nunavut's Aboriginal people, Inuit - Auyuittuq means "the land that never melts". Although Auyuittuq was established in 1976 as a national park reserve, it was upgraded to a full national park in 2000.
There were Inuit settlements in the Baffin Mountains before European contact. The first European contact is believed to have been by Norse explorers in the 11th century, but the first recorded sighting of Baffin Island was Martin Frobisher during his search for the Northwest Passage in 1576.

The painter 
Lawren Stewart Harris, (1885–1970) was a leading landscape canadian painter, imbuing his paintings with a spiritual dimension. An inspirer of other artists, he was a key figure in the Group of Seven and gave new vision to representations of the northern Canadian landscape. During the 1920s, Harris's works became more abstract and simplified, especially his stark landscapes of the Canadian north and Arctic.  He also stopped signing and dating his works so that people would judge his works on their own merit and not by the artist or when they were painted.
In 1924, a sketching trip with A.Y. Jackson to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies marked the beginning of Harris' mountain subjects, which he continued to explore with annual sketching trips until 1929, exploring areas around Banff National Park, Yoho National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park. In 1930, Harris went on his last extended sketching trip, travelling to the Arctic aboard the supply ship SS. Beothic for two months, during which time he completed over 50 sketches.  "We are on the fringe of the great North and its living whiteness, its loneliness and replenishment, its resignations and release, tis call and answer, its cleansing rhythms. It seems that the top of the continent is a source of spiritual flow that will ever shed clarity into the growing race of America."(Lawren S. Harris, 1926)
For Harris, art was to express spiritual values as well as to represent the visible world. North Shore, Lake Superior (1926), an image of a solitary weathered tree stump surrounded by an expanse of dramatically lit sky, effectively evokes the tension between the terrestrial and spiritual.
The resulting Arctic canvases that he developed from the oil panels marked the end of his landscape period, and from 1935 on, Harris enthusiastically embraced abstract painting. Several members of the Group of Seven later became members of the Canadian Group of Painters including Harris, A. J. Casson, Arthur Lismer, A. Y. Jackson, and Franklin Carmichael.
From 1934 to 1937, Harris lived in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he painted his first abstract works, a direction he would continue for the rest of his life. In 1938 he moved to Sante Fe, New Mexico, and helped found the Transcendental Painting Group, an organization of artists who advocated a spiritual form of abstraction.
In 1969, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Harris died in Vancouver in 1970, at the age of 84, as a well-known artist. He was buried on the grounds of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, where his work is now held.
On November 26, 2015 his painting Mountain and Glacier was auctioned for $3.9 million at a Heffel Fine Art Auction House auction in Toronto, breaking the previous record for the sale of one of Harris's works.
In 2016 a film about Harris's life, Where the Universe Sings, was produced by TV Ontario. It was created by filmmaker Peter Raymont and directed by Nancy Lang.

_______________________________
2017 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT ROBSON BY LAWREN S. HARRIS

LAWREN S. HARRIS (1885-1970) 

Mount Robson (3,954 m - 12, 972 ft) 

Canada  (British Columbia)

The Mountain 

Mount Robson (3,954 m - 12, 972 ft) is the most prominent mountain in North America's Rocky Mountain range; it is also the highest point in the Canadian Rockies. The mountain is located entirely within Mount Robson Provincial Park of British Columbia, and is part of the Rainbow Range. Mount Robson is the second highest peak entirely in British Columbia, behind Mount Waddington in the Coast Range. The south face of Mount Robson is clearly visible from the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16), and is commonly photographed along this route.

Mount Robson was likely named after Colin Robertson, who worked for both the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company at various times in the early 19th century, though there was confusion over the name as many assumed it to have been named for John Robson, an early premier of British Columbia. The Texqakallt, a Secwepemc people and the earliest inhabitants of the area, call it Yuh-hai-has-kun (The Mountain of the Spiral Road). Other unofficial names include Cloud Cap Mountain.

In 1893, five years after the expedition of A.P. Coleman to Athabasca Pass and the final settling of the mistaken elevations of Mt. Hooker and Mt. Brown, Mt. Robson was first surveyed by James McEvoy and determined to be the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.  The first documented ascent of Mount Robson, led by the young guide Conrad Kain, at its time the hardest ice face to be climbed on the continent, was achieved during the 1913 annual expedition organized by a large party of Alpine Club of Canada members who made use of the newly completed Grand Trunk Pacific railway to access the area. Prior to 1913, it had been necessary to approach the mountain by pack train from Edmonton or Laggan via Jasper and Lucerne, so only few intrepid explorers had made previous attempts at exploring the mountain. The most famous early ascensionist was the Reverend George Kinney, a founding member of the Alpine Club, who on his twelfth attempt in August 1909 claimed to have reached the summit with local outfitter Donald "Curly" Phillips. A major controversy over this claim and over the implausible nature of his unlikely and dangerous route dominated the discourse within the Alpine Club elite, and he is now generally presumed to have reached the high summit ridge before being turned back at the final ice dome of the peak. Kinney Lake, below the south face, is named in his honour.

The north face of Mount Robson is heavily glaciated and 800 m (2,600 ft) of ice extends from the summit to Berg Glacier.  The Berg glacier calves directly into the lake. The Robson Glacier, which fills the cirque and valley between Mount Robson and Mount Resplendent, in the early 1900s fed directly into both Berg lake and Adolphus lake, straddling the Continental Divide and draining thus to both the Arctic and Pacific oceans via the Smoky and Robson Rivers, respectively. It since has receded more than 2 kilometres and is the source of the Robson River only.

The painter 

Lawren Stewart Harris, (1885–1970) was a leading landscape canadian painter, imbuing his paintings with a spiritual dimension. An inspirer of other artists, he was a key figure in the Group of Seven and gave new vision to representations of the northern Canadian landscape. During the 1920s, Harris's works became more abstract and simplified, especially his stark landscapes of the Canadian north and Arctic.  He also stopped signing and dating his works so that people would judge his works on their own merit and not by the artist or when they were painted.

In 1924, a sketching trip with A.Y. Jackson to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies marked the beginning of Harris' mountain subjects, which he continued to explore with annual sketching trips until 1929, exploring areas around Banff National Park, Yoho National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park. In 1930, Harris went on his last extended sketching trip, travelling to the Arctic aboard the supply ship SS. Beothic for two months, during which time he completed over 50 sketches.  "We are on the fringe of the great North and its living whiteness, its loneliness and replenishment, its resignations and release, tis call and answer, its cleansing rhythms. It seems that the top of the continent is a source of spiritual flow that will ever shed clarity into the growing race of America."(Lawren S. Harris, 1926)

For Harris, art was to express spiritual values as well as to represent the visible world. North Shore, Lake Superior (1926), an image of a solitary weathered tree stump surrounded by an expanse of dramatically lit sky, effectively evokes the tension between the terrestrial and spiritual.

The resulting Arctic canvases that he developed from the oil panels marked the end of his landscape period, and from 1935 on, Harris enthusiastically embraced abstract painting. Several members of the Group of Seven later became members of the Canadian Group of Painters including Harris, A. J. Casson, Arthur Lismer, A. Y. Jackson, and Franklin Carmichael.

From 1934 to 1937, Harris lived in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he painted his first abstract works, a direction he would continue for the rest of his life. In 1938 he moved to Sante Fe, New Mexico, and helped found the Transcendental Painting Group, an organization of artists who advocated a spiritual form of abstraction.

In 1969, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Harris died in Vancouver in 1970, at the age of 84, as a well-known artist. He was buried on the grounds of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, where his work is now held.

On November 26, 2015 his painting Mountain and Glacier was auctioned for $3.9 million at a Heffel Fine Art Auction House auction in Toronto, breaking the previous record for the sale of one of Harris's works.

In 2016 a film about Harris's life, Where the Universe Sings, was produced by TV Ontario. It was created by filmmaker Peter Raymont and directed by Nancy Lang.