Lawren S. Harris

Harris was the intellectual and great initiator of the Group of Seven. Having studied in Berlin from 1904 to 1907, he was responsible for the construction in 1913 of the Studio Building in Toronto where many of the artists worked. He organized trips to the Algoma region of Ontario from 1918 and consistently argued for the furtherance of all the arts in Canada and for recognition of their importance for the growth of the nation. He moved to Vancouver in 1940.