Snow covered mountains and an ice-filled lake with dark grey skies overhead.

Robertson Bay, Greenland, about 1930

Oil on wooden panel

Lawren Stewart Harris, CC

Born Brantford, Ontario, 1885Died Vancouver, British Columbia, 1970
University of Alberta Museums Art CollectionUniversity of Alberta MuseumsGift of Alexander and Margaret Andrekson2009.3.1
Lowercase I in a black picture frame that links to this work of art on the UAlberta Museums Search Site.

A significant Canadian painter and member of the Group of Seven, Lawren S. Harris was born into a wealthy family in Brantford, Ontario. Influenced by spiritual movements such as theosophy, Harris developed a distinctive style that merged his spiritual interests and landscape painting.

Robertson Bay, Greenland is one of a number of oil sketches completed by Harris on a trip to the Arctic aboard the Hudson’s Bay Company’s ship, the Beothic. A. Y. Jackson, a fellow Group of Seven member, also travelled and painted on this journey. This and several oil sketches were preliminary works for Greenland Mountains, a major painting by Harris purchased by the National Gallery of Canada in 1936.

Long-time university supporter and arts advocate, the late Margaret Andrekson, OC donated 130 works of art and ethnographic objects to the University of Alberta Museums and co-founded the Friends of the UAlberta Museums in 1984. Robertson Bay, Greenland was donated to the university by Andrekson in honour of her late husband, Andy (Alexander).