Aaron Allan Edson

In 1864, Allan Edson RCA went to London to complete his artistic training. He began to make his mark as early as 1866, when he was noted not only for his talents, but also for his involvement in art associations. He was a founding member of the Society of Canadian Artists in 1867 and showed some of his work in its first exhibition the following year. He was also one of the first members of the Ontario Society of Artists, which was founded 1872. In 1880, Edson was one of the founding members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Although described by his contemporaries as a modest man, he was from 1870 onward considered one of Canada's best-known landscape painters. In the early 1880s, he lived in France and also travelled to London in 1886-1887. Several of his works were influenced by the American Hudson River School of Painting.