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Homer Watson’s Canadian Landscape Painting


Curated by Brian Foss

Landscape painting by Homer Watson of a creek below a tall mountain, shadowed by approaching storm clouds.

Homer Ransford Watson (1855–1936) was above all a painter of rural landscapes, and was especially devoted to places that he knew intimately. He has often been credited as the first nineteenth-century artist to portray these settings as specifically Canadian, rather than as a pastiche of European influences. A self-taught painter, his art documents the centrality of the pioneer legacy to Ontario’s sense of historical identity and crucially emphasizes the importance of environmentalist approaches to the natural world. For more on Homer Watson read Brian Foss’s Homer Watson: Life & Work.



About the Curator: Brian Foss

Brian Foss is a teacher, a freelance curator, and the director of Carleton University’s School for Studies in Art and Culture. His most recent project was the award-winning 1920s Modernism in Montreal: The Beaver Hall Group, co-curated with Jacques Des Rochers for the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2015).



Banner Image: Homer Watson, A Coming Storm in the Adirondacks (detail), 1879, oil on canvas, 85.7 x 118.3 cm, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Gallery

Landscape painting by Homer Watson of a creek below a tall mountain, shadowed by approaching storm clouds.

A Coming Storm in the Adirondacks, 1879

Painting by Homer Watson of a working sawmill with a water wheel on the edge of a river. Large trees and mountains are in the background while to left of the river, in the foreground, is a tall dead tree with a old, bearded man walking below it.

The Pioneer Mill, 1880

Landscape painting by Homer Watson depicting a field near a river with trees and grass blowing in the wind. Sun is breaking through dark clouds overhead. Two cows stand near a dead, downed tree on the bottom right of the frame.

Near the Close of a Stormy Day, 1884

Photograph of a wall in a home with framed landscape paintings hung on the wall. A painted running border along the top of the wall reads "CLAUDE TURNER" with smaller landscape paintings appearing over the text.

Studio frieze (detail), 1893–94

Painting by Homer Watson of two working men in a forest on a sunny day. Each man is holding an end of a long saw as they cut a log on the ground.

Log-cutting in the Woods, 1894

Painting by Homer Watson depicting a man standing on top of a dam and turning the wheel of a floodgate during a storm. A small dog stands at his feet and a group of horses a short distance away. Tall trees are bending in the wind and dark clouds are overhead.

The Flood Gate, c.1900–01

Painting by Homer Watson of WWI soldiers in an open field with forested mountains in the distance. A group stands behind a row of soliders lying on the ground who are pointing their rifles at small targets across the field.

The Ranges (Camp at Sunrise), 1915

Painting by Homer Watson of a row of houses in the middle of rolling fields, partially covered by snow. The moon shines in a pastel-coloured sky and a single large tree is in the foreground.

Moonlight, Waning Winter, 1924

Painting by Homer Watson of large trees on the bank of a river with fields visible near the horizon. The moon shines in a sky of pink and purple clouds made with large brushstrokes.

Moonlit Stream, 1933

Landscape painting by Homer Watson of a creek below a tall mountain, shadowed by approaching storm clouds.

A Coming Storm in the Adirondacks, 1879

Painting by Homer Watson of a working sawmill with a water wheel on the edge of a river. Large trees and mountains are in the background while to left of the river, in the foreground, is a tall dead tree with a old, bearded man walking below it.

The Pioneer Mill, 1880

Landscape painting by Homer Watson depicting a field near a river with trees and grass blowing in the wind. Sun is breaking through dark clouds overhead. Two cows stand near a dead, downed tree on the bottom right of the frame.

Near the Close of a Stormy Day, 1884

Photograph of a wall in a home with framed landscape paintings hung on the wall. A painted running border along the top of the wall reads "CLAUDE TURNER" with smaller landscape paintings appearing over the text.

Studio frieze (detail), 1893–94

Painting by Homer Watson of two working men in a forest on a sunny day. Each man is holding an end of a long saw as they cut a log on the ground.

Log-cutting in the Woods, 1894

Painting by Homer Watson depicting a man standing on top of a dam and turning the wheel of a floodgate during a storm. A small dog stands at his feet and a group of horses a short distance away. Tall trees are bending in the wind and dark clouds are overhead.

The Flood Gate, c.1900–01

Painting by Homer Watson of WWI soldiers in an open field with forested mountains in the distance. A group stands behind a row of soliders lying on the ground who are pointing their rifles at small targets across the field.

The Ranges (Camp at Sunrise), 1915

Painting by Homer Watson of a row of houses in the middle of rolling fields, partially covered by snow. The moon shines in a pastel-coloured sky and a single large tree is in the foreground.

Moonlight, Waning Winter, 1924

Painting by Homer Watson of large trees on the bank of a river with fields visible near the horizon. The moon shines in a sky of pink and purple clouds made with large brushstrokes.

Moonlit Stream, 1933

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