Robert Whale

Robert Whale is another one of these British artists setting in Canada who was interested in depicting the opening up of the country for settlement and transportation. He was largely self-taught in London, copying many paintings from the National Gallery. Arriving in Canada as a portrait painter he sought to make his living as an artist. He earned most of his money exhibiting in as many local fairs as possible and winning prize money. He began painting landscapes in response to the growing interest in wilderness scenes and those showing native peoples. He produced many sensitive paintings of the landscape around Hamilton in the region where he lived. Whale's work is highly desired in public collections across Canada for sensitive use of light, imaginative view points, and unique approach to showing Canada as a nation in the midst of change.