Homer watson blvd
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Homer Watson Canadian, 1855-1936
Homer Ransford Watson (January 14, 1855-May 30, 1936) was a Canadian artist known for his significant contributions to the country's artistic heritage. Born in Doon, Upper Canada (now Kitchener, Ontario), Watson's early life was marked by the loss of his father when he was just six years old. Despite this early hardship, Watson's innate talent and passion for art were evident from a young age.
Homer Watson; Goderich Church
A self-taught artist, Homer Watson was encouraged to paint at an early age by both his teacher and his aunt. His upbringing in the small town of Doon, with a population of only 150 at the time, instilled in him a deep appreciation for nature and the Canadian landscape. His early years were characterized by a voracious appetite for learning, fueled by an inheritance of a library of books that played a pivotal role in shaping his artistic sensibilities and honing his drawing skills.
Homer Watson; Road Below Galt
In 1874, Watson made a significant move to Toronto, a city th
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Biography
Homer Ransford Watson (1855–1936) has been characterized as someone who, in the nineteenth century, first portrayed the surrounding landscape as specifically Canadian, rather than as a pastiche of European influences. Although Watson had almost no formal training, by his mid-twenties he was well known and admired by Canadian collectors and critics, his rural landscape paintings making him one of the central figures in Canadian art from the 1880s until the First World War. 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 landscape.
Early Years and Artistic Beginnings
Watson was born on January 14, 1855, in Doon, today a suburb of Kitchener but then a separate village on the Grand River in southern Ontario’s Waterloo County. Doon had been founded just twenty-one years before his birth and when he was in his mid-teens had a population of about 150. The second of five children of Ransford and Susan Mohr Watson, Homer was
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WATSON, HOMER RANSFORD, artist; b. 14 Jan. 1855 in Doon (Kitchener), Upper Canada, second of the five children of Ransford Watson and Susan (Susannah) Moore (Mohr); m. 1 Jan. 1881 Roxanna (Roxa, Roxie) Bechtel (1855–1918) in Berlin (Kitchener), Ont., and they had a son, who was stillborn, and adopted a daughter; d. 30 May 1936 in Doon, Ont.
Homer Watson was born into a family of modest means. His father, Ransford, operated a woollen mill. By his own admission, Homer was a poor student who preferred sketching to school lessons. A dreamer too, he was reported to have arranged his food on his dinner plate in such a way as to create images. The Watsons fell on hard times when Ransford died in 1861. Some years later, when he was only in grade 6, Homer was forced to leave school to help support the family. Along with his elder brother, Jude Nathan, he found a job in a brickyard. Tragedy struck again when Jude was killed in an accident there in 1867. The deaths affected Homer profoundly and he sought comfort in nature. He could often be found wa
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