Watson, Homer Ransford

DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Nancy Silcox, “WATSON, HOMER RANSFORD,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 16, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/watson_homer_ransford_16E.html
DCB profile notes:
- 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.
- At age 15 Homer was given some oil paints by an aunt and set about using them. With no money for formal instruction, he learned by copying pictures in books. A small inheritance from his paternal grandfather gave him the means to move to Toronto in 1874 for a year of study. His first major work, The death of Elaine (1877), was inspired by Tennyson’s poem “Lancelot and Elaine.” The work shows the strong influence of the British Romantic School. Elaine would remain one of his few figure studies. The pastoral landscapes in and around Doon – the woodlands, rushing streams, watermills, and grazing cattle – became his predominant subject matter. In the words of curator Darlene Kerr, “Homer Ransford Watson … quite simply loved the woods. It was his sanctum sanctorum, or sacred place.” Watson would later be active in a campaign to conserve an expanse of woodland near his home, known since 1943 as Homer Watson Memorial Park.
- Watson was prolific after his return to Canada: he exhibited an estimated 174 paintings between 1890 and 1899, with major shows being held in London and New York. Sales were brisk; among the Canadian collectors who patronized him were prominent businessmen such as James Ross. Generally, his art from this period displays the influence of his years abroad. Some, such as Summer storm (c. 1890) and Evening scene (c. 1894), are darker and moodier than his previous works. Commentators have also pointed to his use of broader brushstrokes and thicker paint, a greater concern with colour and light, and more freedom of expression. The flood gate (c. 1900–1) was the painting that contemporaries, and Watson himself, called his masterpiece.
- By 1910 Watson’s work had begun to receive more intense scrutiny as newer talents sought to define the Canadian landscape. Sales of his paintings started to decline. With the formation in 1920 of the Group of Seven, “the Canadian Constable” became an anachronism. The so-called real and raw Canada, as portrayed in the radical canvases of Arthur Lister, Alexander Young Jackson, Lawren Stewart Harris, and their associates, increasingly dominated the country’s art world. Sensing the shift in the wind, Watson struggled to adapt. His style became more Impressionistic as he sought to work out his own modernism, which did not, he said, “lend itself to the elimination of the pictorial.” Yet most art historians view his paintings from 1920 on as weaker efforts. The stock-market crash of 1929 left Watson virtually penniless. Two years later he transferred ownership of his unsold works to the Waterloo Trust and Savings Company in exchange for monthly living expenses. He continued to paint, but his financial situation remained difficult. “I am in rather tight straits for want of money,” he wrote to his patron James Livingston in 1933. “The reason is the winter has been altogether a knock-out for no one could come as expected to buy.”
Second Great Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=7324
Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68653032/homer-ransford-watson