Clara Isabella Harris (1887-1974) was a Canadian impressionist painter. [1]

She was born Clara Isabella Perry, in King City, Ontario, on October 12, 1887. She attended the Ontario School of Art (which later became OCA) where she studied under John W. Beatty, an associate and influential to The Group of Seven, as well as noted portrait painter Archibald Barnes. She attended the Port Hope Summer School where she was a student of George Agnew Reid, Manly MacDonald and William Cruikshank.

During the First World War Clara studied at the Art Institute of Chicago.

She exhibited at various art shows including The Sixty First Annual Exhibition of the Ontario Society of Artists, March 1933; The Artists' Annual Non-Jury Exhibition, Canadian National Exhibition Art Gallery, May 1-15, 1935; and The 71st Annual Spring Exhibition, Ontario Society of Artists, The Art Gallery of Toronto, March 5-29, 1943.

Her work was exhibited alongside notable women artists Emily Carr, Paraskeva Clark, Kathleen Daly, Dorothy Knowles, Kathleen Morris, Mary H. Reid and Anne Savage.

True to the Group of Seven's "plein-air" method of sketching and painting Clara traveled and painted on location, capturing the beauty of each season. The Toronto area, northern Ontario and the Maritimes were her favorite locations.

Clara lived at 23 Valleyview Gardens in the Baby Point area of west Toronto. She died in 1974 leaving behind over 200 paintings documenting the Canadian landscape.

Reference

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  1. ^ The Globe and Mail, Sat. Oct. 3, 1987, p. c16, Women Artists in Canada
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[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

  1. ^ The Globe and Mail, Sat. Oct. 3, 1987, p. c16, Women Artists in Canada
  2. ^ The Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction, Westbridge publication, c2000, p.98
  3. ^ Canadian Art Sales Index, 1987-88, 1989-90, p. 98.
  4. ^ The Toronto Telegram, Wed. Jan. 3, 1962, "On Retirement, Artist Leads Trend, Oil Painting Gifts -- Not Gold Watches
  5. ^ Catalogue of the Sixty-First Annual Exhibition of the Ontario Society of Artists, The Art Gallery of Toronto, March 1933, p.7.o
  6. ^ The Artists' Annual Non-Jury Exhibition, Canadian National Exhibition, Art Gallery, Toronto, May 1-15th, 1935, p. 6.
  7. ^ 71st Annual Spring Exhibition, Ontario Society of Artists, The Art Gallery of Toronto, March 5-29, 1943, p. 11.