The Tracing Boards of Lady Frieda Harris

Masonic Tracing Boards painted by Lady Frieda Harris.

The set of First, Second and Third Degree Tracing Boards represented on this page were the gift of Wor. Bro. Thomas D. Worrel to Mill Valley Lodge No. 356. They were printed in approximately 1975 and the dimensions of each print is 20ins x 14ins. The 1975 edition was the only prints made of the original paintings.

These evocative interpretations of the First, Second and Third Degree Tracing Boards were originally painted by Lady Frieda Harris. The designs incorporate the symbolism of the traditional Tracing Boards, but are distinctive for their modernity, and use of dynamic symmetry in rendering the designs.

1^st Degree

2^nd Degree

3^rd Degree

Her designs were undoubtedly influenced by her artistic training and experience. In 1937, Lady Harris began studying Projective Synthetic Geometry under the direction of Olive Whicher and George Adams based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner and Goethe. Frieda Harris also had utilized Projective Synthetic Geometry in her work designing the Thoth Tarot cards for Aleister Crowley: These cards were completed for exhibition in approximately 1942. She had considerable talent in esoteric art works. She sometimes worked under the pseudonym Jesus Chutney.

With regard to Freemasonry, Lady Frieda Harris was a Co-Mason. Co-Masonry is, in brief, an offshoot of the Theosophical Society that, admits both men and women into Co-Masonic Lodges. Because Co-Masonry operates in breach of the landmarks of the United Grand Lodge of England, by admitting women, it has never been recognized as a regular branch of the society of Freemasons by regularly constituted bodies. Many regular Masons, however, appreciate the history of the Co-Masonic order and the sincerity of purpose and valuable philosophical contributions made by individual members of Co-Masonry, including Lady Harris's renditions of the Tracing Boards.

Lady Harris was born Marguerit Frieda Bloxam in 1877. She was married to Sir Percy Harris, Chief Whip in the Liberal Party: She outlived her husband, who died in 1952, by 10 years. Lady Frieda Harris died in Srinagar, India on 11th May 1962.