Arthur Henry Howard Heming | |
|---|---|
 Arthur Heming, 1912 | |
| Born | (1870-01-17)January 17, 1870 |
| Died | October 30, 1940(1940-10-30) (aged 70) |
Arthur Henry Howard Heming (January 17, 1870 – October 30, 1940) was a Canadian painter and novelist known as the "chronicler of the North" for his paintings, sketches, essays and books about Canada's North.
Born inParis, Ontario and raised inHamilton, he studied at the Hamilton Art School, then inNew York City at theArt Students League withFrank DuMond, and theOld Lyme Art Colony, and inLondon with the Welsh masterFrank Brangwyn.[1]
Heming painted paintings depicting the fur trade, many for the bookThe Drama of the Forests. He asked theHudson's Bay Company to include his work in their collection as a contributor to the history of Canadian wilderness exploration. Instead, in 1921, theRoyal Ontario Museum purchased a selection of these paintings.Maclean's Magazine then reproduced them for their covers throughout the early 1920's.[2]
A 124-page exhibition catalogue was produced byMuseum London in 2013, with five essays,Arthur Heming: Chronicler of the North. It followed a 2012 galleryretrospective of his work, shown at Museum London.
Heming was an associate member of theRoyal Canadian Academy of Arts.[3][1]
Heming was diagnosed ascolour blind and as a result worked mostly in black and white for almost all of his life, with the addition of yellow.[4] However, near the end of his career, he started to paint using the full range of colours, having been told by a fellow artist he was no longer colour blind.[5][1]
His highly popular novels were only three in number, but they enjoyed great success in serial form and then in fine book editions from major publishers. His novels were not armchair concoctions, as Heming had travelled extensively in the wilderness ...
Heming also illustrated books by other authors, especially those of the authorWilliam Alexander Fraser (1859-1933, not to be confused with the Canadian politician of the same name).
Biographical works include:Miss Florence and the Artists of Old Lyme (1971, local history); andArthur Heming: Chronicler of the North (2013, Museum London exhibition catalogue).
The Hemings emigrated from Bognor (Regis) England in the top half of the 19th century. Edward Francis Heming left Bognor and settled just outsideGuelph, Ontario. on the Eramosa Line in 1832. He called the farm 'Bognor Lodge' and it is still there today in Heming ownership. The northern half of the farm was expropriated and flooded to makeGuelph Lake.
The Heming family traces its ancestors back toKing Harold Heming of Denmark, the lastViking king of Denmark, and the one who brought Christianity to Denmark. They eventually travelled through France and settled there having the town named 'Heming' after them. When France became Roman Catholic, they were/are Protestants, they emigrated again just across the English Channel to the seaside spa of Bognor.
Edward Heming had five sons in Canada West. One of them was Charles Heming and he became the postmaster of the small village of Sydenham. Because there was another growing town near Ottawa with the same name, Charles was asked to change the name of Sydenham. He changed it to 'Bognor' and it is there today - a tribute to the pioneering Canadian Heming family.
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