1. Homer Ransford Watson was a Canadian landscape painter.
16 Facts About Homer Watson
1. 2.
Homer Watson has been characterized as the painter who first painted Canada as Canada, rather than as a pastiche of European painting.
3.
Homer Watson was a member and president of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, as well as a founding member and first president of the Canadian Art Club.
4.
Homer Ransford Watson was born on 14 January 1855, in Doon, Ontario, the second of Ransford and Susan Mohr Watson's five children.
5.
Homer Watson descended from German Mennonite settlers who arrived in Ontario in the early 19th century.
6.
Ransford left behind a library of books that Homer Watson studied from and influenced his early drawings.
7.
Homer Watson sought the advice of Thomas Mower Martin in Toronto, and moved there in 1874.
8.
In 1876, Homer Watson traveled to New York State, and may have seen the work of painter George Inness.
9.
In 1880, the Marquis of Lorne opened the first exhibition of the Canadian Academy; Homer Watson's work was displayed and he was elected an Associate member.
10.
Homer Watson married Roxanna Bechtel in 1881, and the couple moved into the Drake House at Doon.
11.
Homer Watson painted the rural Grand River countryside for most of his artistic life.
12.
The artists with whom Homer Watson was most often associated were the English landscape painter John Constable and such French Barbizon artists as Theodore Rousseau, Charles-Francois Daubigny, Narcisse Diaz de la Pena, Constant Troyon, Jules Dupre, and tangentially Jean-Francois Millet because Homer Watson didn`t share Millet`s focus on the nobility of human figures.
13.
Homer Watson moved to England in 1887 for three years, and further established his reputation.
14.
Homer Watson campaigned to save the Waterloo County woodlands that he had preserved in his landscapes.
15.
Many of Homer Watson's works are still on display at his old house, which he and his sister had transformed into a small art gallery.
16.
Homer Watson has been designated a Person of National Historic Significance in Canada.