BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Thomas Mower Martin

October 5 1838 - March 15 1934

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
Royal British Society of Colonial Artists

Thomas Mower Martin was born in Inner Temple, London England in 1838. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art from 1880 until 1918. He had an exhibition record of over half a century, with the Academy and elsewhere, extending from 1880 up until the year before he died in Toronto in 1934.

Martin showed his work in the first annual exhibition of the Vancouver Arts and Crafts Association in 1900. He later exhibited work in the B.C. Society of Fine Art's inaugural First Annual Exhibition in April 1909, and at the Vancouver Exhibition in 1924.

In 1903 Martin exhibited two oil paintings titled "In An Orange Grove" and "A Totem Village, B.C." with the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. The former painting was priced at $100.00, the other was not for sale. His address was listed as Shoal Bay, Victoria, B.C.

A large number of Martin's watercolour paintings were used as illustrations in the book CANADA, published in 1907. Although not known by the editor to have been exhibited, a list of the illustrations is provided here for reference, particularly due to the relatively large number of early watercolour paintings of British Columbia used in the book, and also because of the book's rarity.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1900 Sept. 25-27 VACA First Annual Exhibition Sunset, Mt. Sir Donald
Lake Louise
Rocks near Victoria
Mt. Roger, from Lake Marion
Illecillewaet Glacier and River
Sycamores, Los Angeles
Siwash Canoe
1903 CNE Toronto   Annual Exhibition In An Orange Grove
A Totem Village, B.C.
1909 April 20 - 28 BCSFA   First Annual Exhibition Coast North of Welcome Harbour
Indians Travelling in Late Fall
Dartmoor, Devonshire
Indian Camp
Indian Village, B.C.
1924 Aug. 9 - 16 Vancouver Exhibition   Annual Exhibition Landscape
1946 July 2 - 28 VAG   Jubilee Exhibition B.C. Mountains
Landscape


References - BIBLIOGRAPHY

Refer to BIBLIO.

References - GROUP EXHIBITIONS

100 YEARS OF B.C. ART (refer to VAG58)

IMPRESSIONS OF AN AGE (refer to VCM69)

ARTISTS OVERLAND (refer to BAG80)

A NEW CLASS OF ART - The Artist's Print in Canadian Art, 1877 - 1920
      1996, Rosemary L. Tovell, ISBN 0-88884-655-X; published by National Gallery of Canada
      Illustrated; includes endnotes; list of works; selected references; index
      Includes information on Martin's early work (3 etchings illustrated)

References - GENERAL

CANADIAN MEN AND WOMEN OF THE TIME by Henry James Morgan
      "A Handbook of Canadian Biography"
      1898, 1st Edition, published by William Briggs, Toronto, Ontario
      1,130 pages of biographical information, some advertisements
      The precursor to Who's Who in Canada, and McMann's Canadian Who's Who Index 1898-1984
      Brief biography of Martin

THE FINE ARTS IN VANCOUVER, 1886 - 1930 (refer to THOM69)

EARLY PAINTERS AND ENGRAVERS IN CANADA (refer to H70)
      Includes half page of references to Martin.

CREATIVE CANADA - Volumes One & Two (refer to CC71)
      Includes one full column of information about Martin.

THE MOUNTAINS AND THE SKY by Lorne E. Render
      1974, Glenbow-Alberta Institute; published by McClelland and Stewart West
      ISBN 0-7712-1001-2; 224 pages, illustrated throughout in colour and b&w
      Includes biographical information on Martin and eight of his paintings illustrated

THE DICTIONARY OF BRITISH ARTISTS 1880 - 1940 (refer to DBA76)

FROM DESOLATION TO SPLENDOUR (refer to FDTS77)

ROYAL CANADIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS - EXHIBITIONS & MEMBERS 1880 - 1979 (refer to RCA81)

ARTISTS IN CANADA 1982 - UNION LIST OF ARTISTS' FILES (refer to AIC82)

MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS - SPRING EXHIBITIONS 1880 - 1970 (refer to MM88)

A DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN ARTISTS (refer to M)
      Three-page biography with numerous references.

BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF ARTISTS IN CANADA (refer to BIAC03)
      19 references cited for Martin.

THE BOW - LIVING WITH A RIVER, edited by Gerald T. Conaty
      Includes essays by G.T. Conaty, Daryl Betenia, Catharine Mastin
      2004; ISBN 1-55263-634-8; Glenbow Museum, published by Key Porter Books Ltd.
      160 pages, hardcover; extensively illustrated with artwork and historical photographs
      Includes essays, select artist biographies, art and general bibliographies, index
      Artwork by western artists includes Martin

VISTAS: ARTISTS ON THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY (refer to GLEN09)

CITY & PROVINCIAL DIRECTORIES 1899-1900 (refer to DIR)

Clippings

"Mr. Mower Martin, R.C.A., was well represented by nearly a dozen sketches and drawings, executed with much vigor; the rather hard contrasts offered by the white, snow-topped mountains and the black green timber is scarcely true to nature, for there is always a haze, a mist, an atmospheric softening, as it were, even at sunset when the contrasts are most markedly hard; that Mr. Martin does find this softening effect is proved by some of his work, deep and rich in tone and color and certainly not lacking atmosphere; a little bit of wet cloudy April sky with patches of wet soft blue breaking through is a charming piece of sky, rock and tree; and a brilliant and luminous sketch of a siwash canoe silhoutted (sic) against a western sky out of which the sun has disappeared is admirable."
      From "British Columbia Letters, No. IV"
      The Canadian Architect and Builder, 1900

"The first contribution to the Art section of the Museum was made by T. Mower Martin, November 29th, 1898, who presented a specimen of his own work, "Mountains Near Banff," which still hangs in the Museum."
      From "The First Art Organization in Vancouver" by Mrs. Garland Foster
      Museum Notes, Vol. III, No. 3, September 1928

"The oldest artist in the Dominion and one of the founders of the Ontario Society of Artists and a Royal Canadian Academician by Royal warrant is still painting, although in his ninety-second year. His name is T. Mower Martin, R.C.A. ..."
      From "Art Notes" by John Radford
      Vancouver Sun, March 1 1930


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