Artist Information
Artist
Thomas Mower Martin, RCA (1838-1934)Role
PainterDate made
n.d.Time Period
19th CenturyNotes
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Born in London, England, Thomas Mower Martin was a Canadian landscape painter dubbed "the father of Canadian art” in his obituary written in The Montreal Gazette. He was the son of the acting treasurer of the Inner Temple, and as a young man, he had been launched on a military career. However, after attending Royal Academy exhibitions he decided to pursue a career in the arts.
Martin was mostly self-taught as an artist, immigrating to Canada in 1862, settling first in Muskoka, and later in Toronto where he became an established professional painter. Martin produced works in watercolour, oil and etching, and his landscapes were said to have made Canada’s scenery famous in many parts of the world. He was one of the “Railway Painters” group that included Lucius O'Brien RCA (1832-1899), Frederick M. Bell-Smith RCA (1846-1923), Marmaduke M. Matthews RCA (1837-1913), Forshaw Day RCA (1831-1903) and Martin. This was done as part of the Canadian Pacific Railroad program for well-established Canadian artists to record the completion of the transcontinental railway and the landscape.
He was a charter member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, a founding member of the Ontario Society of Artists in 1872, and was also a member of the Royal British Society of Colonial Artists. The Marchioness of Lorne, wife of the Governor-General of Canada, was a painter herself, and helped to support Martin's efforts in the formation of the Royal Academy and later the Ontario society.
