In the Ward: Lawren Harris, Toronto, and the Idea of North

Like all but very few Canadians, I’ve had no real experience of the North – I’ve remained, of necessity, an outsider. And the North has remained for me a convenient place to dream about, spin tall tales about and, in the end, avoid. – Andrew HunterOutsiders, dreamers, tall tales. Lawren Harris’s visionary North, his idea of North, was shaped in Toronto. In this fascinating little book, Andrew Hunter explores the historic Toronto of Lawren Harris: a city of great diversity and dense urban growth. Harris often painted in the Ward (St. John’s Ward), a downtown neighbourhood bordered by College and Queen, University and Yonge streets. The Ward was of deep significance to First Nations communities; it marked the end of the Underground Railroad for many fugitive slaves; it housed the city’s first Chinatown; and was home to the immigrant poor of Europe and the United Kingdom.