Background
Homer Watson was born on January 14, 1855 in Doon (now part of Kitchener), Ontario, Canada. He was the son of Ransford Watson and Susan Mohr.
Homer Watson was born on January 14, 1855 in Doon (now part of Kitchener), Ontario, Canada. He was the son of Ransford Watson and Susan Mohr.
Homer was basically a self-taught artist, but he received some early art education at the Notman Studios in Toronto, where he was influenced by Lucius O'Brien and Henri Perre.
In 1876, Homer Watson moved to New York, where he met the painter George Inness. Four years later, in 1880, he sold his first major work, The Pioneer Mill, to the Marquis of Lorne for Queen Victoria's art collection. The following year, in 1881, Homer moved into the Drake House in Doon.
In 1887, the painter left for England, where he lived for four years. In London, Homer met the painters Sir George Clausen and James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and admired the work of French painter Jean-Francois Millet and other Barbizon school painters, as well as influential British landscape painter John Constable.
In 1898, Watson held an important one-man exhibition at the Dowdeswell Gallery in London and another one in New York.
Over the next few years, his works became increasingly popular among collectors and received prizes at expositions across North America. In 1902, at the height of his British career, he exhibited "The Flood Gate". He campaigned to save the Waterloo County woodlands, that he had preserved in his landscapes.
In 1914, Watson was commissioned to paint the first Canadian Expeditionary Force at Valcartier, Quebec. Some time later, in 1920, Homer held his major retrospective exhibition at Jenkins Gallery in Toronto.
Watson continued to paint in the 1920s and maintained his interest in the arts during the 1930s, but deafness limited his activities.
On the Grand River at Doon
Pink Bush
The Castellated Cliff
Nut Gatherers in the Forest
Near the Close of a Stormy Day
Study for Red Oak
Landscape with Horse and Rider
Old Mill and Stream
Grand River Valley
Horse and Cart With Cottage Under Stormy Sky
Figure on the road and farmhouse at sunset
Moonlight on the Grand
Before the Storm
The Flood Gate
Mountain River
The Stone Road
Evening after the Storm
Rushing Stream by Moonlight
The Load Home
The Cliff Light, Cape Breton
Grazing cattle near the river
Down in the Laurentides
Herding Sheep
Horse and Rider in a Landscape
Returning to Town
Moonlight, Waning Winter
Quotations: "I was in a state of ecstasy almost all of the time over nature effects, and I have never lost this love of nature."
Homer was a founding member and president of Canadian Art Club (1907 - 1911). Also, since 1918 to 1922, Wastson was a president of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
Homer Watson married Roxanna Bechtel, the daughter of Isaac Bechtel of Blair, on January 1, 1881. Their son, Charles Watson, was born on February 22, 1883, and died on that day.