Homer Ransford Watson

Waddington's Auction House Biography and Notes

Homer Watson’s work characteristically heroizes the industrious pioneer and farmer, who by taming the virgin wilderness and building a prosperous homestead, contributes to the progress and settlement of the nation. Trips to New York and France exposed him to leading American landscape techniques and the Barbizon school, yet Watson’s primary subject matter was his hometown of Doon, now Kitchener, Ontario. Watson was influenced by small pastoral woodcuts that he saw in American art magazines circulating at the time, particularly the dramatic sky effects rendered by the engraving method. Homeward Bound, illustrates this influence as the hazy, atmospheric skyscape has a kind of scratched appearance, similar to an etching. A fine balance exists between the rugged treeline and the farmer herding his cattle in the foreground. The cattle moving steadily across the picture plane mimic the drive of colonial development, while the rough, brown-streaked skyline reminds viewers that this was no easy task. Watson captures the sublime nature of the Canadian landscape while also emphasizing the untenable courage of the pioneering spirit in the face of such wilderness.