(b Claremont, Ont., 4 Aug 1877; d Canoe Lake, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ont., 8 July 1917). Canadian painter. From 1901 to 1904 he worked as an engraver in Seattle, first for the photo-engraving firm Maring and Ladd for about a year and then for the Seattle Engraving Company. In 1904 he moved to Toronto, where he worked as a designer and illustrator. On joining the company Grip Limited in 1907 he met a number of the painters who later banded together as the GROUP OF SEVEN. Encouraged by J. E. H. MacDonald and others, he began to paint seriously. In 1912 he produced a series of small oil sketches in Algonquin Provincial Park, a wilderness park established in 1893. His first large painting, Northern Lake (Toronto, A.G. Ont.), executed in Toronto in 1912-13 on the basis of these sketches, was acquired for the Ontario Government. Over the next four years he spent a great deal of time in the Park, painting during all seasons. He supported himself there by working as a fire ranger and guide, working in Toronto during the winters. In 1914 he and A. Y. Jackson, who influenced him as a teacher, shared a studio and painted together in Algonquin Park. The discoveries he made about the use of intense colour during this trip were reflected in Northern River (oil on canvas, 1.15*1.02 m, 1914-15; Ottawa, N.G.), a major painting acquired for the national collection in 1915.

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