Bess Larkin Housser Harris

Bess Larkin Housser Harris
Born
Bess Larkin

1890 (1890)
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
Died1969 (aged 78–79)
Vancouver, Canada
Known forPainter
Spouses
F. B. Housser
​
(m. 1914⁠–⁠1934)​
Lawren Harris
​
(m. 1934)​

Bess Larkin Housser Harris (1890–1969) was a Canadian painter who participated in Group of Seven exhibitions and was a member of the Canadian Group of Painters.[1]

Biography

Bess Larkin was born in Brandon, Manitoba.[1][2] She attended Havergal College in Toronto, Ontario.[1] Bess married F. B. Housser in 1914. The two eventually divorced when Bess discovered Housser's affair with the artist Yvonne McKague,[citation needed] and in 1934 Bess married Lawren Harris.[3] After her marriage to Lawren Harris the two spent time in the United States.[4] In 1940 they moved to Vancouver, British Columbia.

Harris did not have a formal art education, but she did take painting lessons from Frederick Varley.[3] Throughout the 1920s she participated, when invited, to Group of Seven shows.[1] In 1926, Harris participated in the Wembley show in England, and in 1930 her work was shown at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.[3] She was a member of the Canadian Group of Painters.

Harris contributed articles about art to the Canadian Bookman between 1923 and 1926.[1]

Harris died in 1969 in Vancouver.[1]

Record sale prices

At the Heffel Auction, Canadian, Impressionist & Modern Art, Nov. 2024, LOT 113, Near Moraine Lake, oil on canvas, 44 x 54 3/4 in, 111.8 x 139.1 cm, Estimate: $50,000 - $70,000 CAD, Sold for: $133,250 (including Buyer's Premium).[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Harris, Bess Larkin Housser". Canadian Women Artists History Initiative. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  2. ^ Milroy, Sarah, ed. (2021). Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Movement. Kleinburg, Ontario: McMichael Canadian Art Collection. p. 105. ISBN 9781773271194.
  3. ^ a b c "Bess Larkin Housser Harris". Heffel Fine Art. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  4. ^ "Lawren Harris". The Art History Archive - Canadian Art. Archived from the original on 24 November 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Lots". www.heffel.com. Heffel Auction House, Nov. 2024. Retrieved 21 November 2024.