Homeward Bound

Provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario

Literature:
J. Russell Harper, “The Dignity of Labour,” in Painting in Canada: A History, 2nd edition, University of Toronto Press, Toronto and Buffalo, 1977, pages 201-208.
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.

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President of both the Canadian Art Club and the Royal Canadian Academy, Watson reinforced the importance of subject matter and stood on the defensive against the surge of abstraction in early twentieth century art. Watson’s success and his legacy stem from his ability to see and paint the Canadian landscape as Canadian, and not as a facsimile of European or American paintings. While his work both idealizes and romanticizes the years of settlement, his landscape paintings serve as a foundation for the many wilderness iterations to follow in the succeeding decades.