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Owen Heathcote Grierson Merton,Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) (14 May 1887–18 January 1931) was aNew Zealand-bornBritish painter, known primarily for hiswatercolours,landscapes, andseascapes. His work shows the influence of thePost-Impressionist representational style.[citation needed]
Merton was born inChristchurch,New Zealand, where he studied at theCanterbury College School of Art. He married Ruth Jenkins, an American, by whom he had two sons, Tom, who became the American Trappist monk and writerThomas Merton and John Paul Merton.[1] (Owen Merton is described in his son Thomas' famous spiritual autobiography,The Seven Storey Mountain.) He worked at different times as a church organist and cinema pianist. He studied sketching underFrances Hodgkins in 1910. He painted inEngland andFrance until 1916, when theFirst World War caused him and his family to relocate with his in-laws in the vicinity ofFlushing,Long Island, where he worked briefly as alandscape gardener.
After the 1921 death of his wife, Merton lived onCape Cod,Massachusetts, then onBermuda. Throughout his career, Merton exhibited his paintings, with varying degrees of success. After returning to Europe during 1923, Owen Merton was elected to theRoyal Society of British Artists.[2] He was president of the local rugby club at Saint-Antonin where he settled with Tom in 1925; in Saint-Antonin he played piano in the local cinema. He continued to travel between his birthplace of New Zealand, Europe, and the US. He died of abrain tumour in London, England, during 1931.[3]
Paintings by Owen Merton are on permanent display in galleries around the world, most particularly in theMuseum of New Zealand.[4]
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