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= Tomhu Huron Roberts = Tomhu Huron Roberts (1959 -1938) was born in Collingwood, Ontario, County of Simcoe. He was also referred to as Thomas and Tomtu. "His family moved to England (Wales) in 1860, returning to Canada six years later. The family moved to Kingston, and then to Toronto where they took in a boarder - Otto Jacobi the noted painter. Roberts was taught art by Otto Reinold Jacobi, and became proficient enough to start teaching art himself. One student of note was the young Timothy Eaton, the man who had founded Eaton's Department Stores. Roberts taught him for $1.00 a lesson (also doing sketches of Eaton while he was teaching him). The Roberts family moved to Vancouver in 1885, where he painted small oil and watercolour landscapes of Vancouver's pioneer phase, and many portraits of its early settlers. They lived on Quebec Street at Broadway. Roberts is said to have exhibited his artwork at Theophilus Hardiman's PioneerArt Gallery” . His father John Hugh Roberts was a writer of stories of their life and mystical Druid papers.

In the Henderson Directory records -  “Roberts, Thomas, H was the first artist in 1889 to be recorded as an artist in Vancouver”

”Tomtu Roberts seems to have been the first artist to live in Vancouver and make a living as an artist. He must of see the fire first hand, for the Roberts family came to the city in 1885. One of his first sketches would of been Vancouver before the Fire – Great Vancouver Fire. His work marks the end of the topographical era, using colours in an emotion- provoking way which would have been novel in British Columbia at the time ”. In 1966 Russell Harper claims that “H Tomtu Roberts (1858-1938) arrived in Vancouver about 1886” dared to advertise himself as an artist”. In this book is a picture of his painting Big Rock, Third Beach. Early Painter and Engravers in Canada by J. Russell Harper.

Quoted in Fine Arts in Vancouver, “It is evidence to suggest that at least some individuals in the new city were interested in the arts.” In the New Dominion 1867-1910 monthly booklet it states: “He had incredible optimism to dare advertise as an artist, one wonders where he could expect to find patrons”. Small oil landscapes in the Museum of Vancouver, picture tall Douglas firs still growing on Granville St. He loved landscapes with atmospheric effects: on grey days, for example, he could obtain greater illusions of depth by sharp foreground against vague distance”

“The first artist to show local artwork at the Pioneer Gallery in the late 1880’s was Tomhu Huron Roberts .”

In “Desolation to Splendor it states: "Roberts, one of the earliest of the mainland’s settlers, was searching for an accommodation of his traditional style to aspects of the landscape that were new to the experience. – The late nineteenth century saw the opening of the transcontinental railroad and a great influx of settlers and exuberant artists to the West Coast from Europe and eastern Canada. The artists were fascinated by the novel elements of the mountain terrain and the luxuriances of the provincial rainforest.. .. A few of these of these visitors settled in centres like Vancouver and Victoria, forming what would be a community of British Columbia artists”. ) ”He was influenced by the artist John Constable. The pages of his notebooks are filled with on-line sketches, especially of changing skies, and notations about the angle of the sun and exact colorations. These give a rare insight in the man and his preoccupation with his work”. He was noted for his landscapes. “The air feels dense and still-quiet like Vancouver at the end of a hot July day. And the pumpkin colored clouds are a complete surprise. Roberts’s audacity is still a little thrilling”. " Mountain scene is shown in the Dictionary of Canadian Artists".

“ In 1978, Mrs. Mary Bertrand inherited some of the artist’s paintings, sketches, 27 pages of his sketchbook, and a diaries kept by his father J.H. Roberts from the Charles Steele estate, Mrs. Bertrand son, Dale Bertrand undertook research on the artist in 1979, and eventually had the first showing of his artwork in 1982". "Roberts was a good portrait painter and, since he was popular in this field in the day, it is quite likely that his paintings of people will have historical as well as artistic value”.

“Twenty of his painting were purchased and/or donated by Charles Steele, his nephew, to the City of Vancouver Archives in 1938”. Llisted in Artists Overland p 149.(3)  Tomhu had 5 exhibitions including 1982 at the Petrov Gallery, another at "Graphica Art Gallery in Edmonton Alberta". . “Tomhu Roberts died in Caulfield, West Vancouver, in 1938 at the age of 79”, according to B.C. Vital Statistics on-line.(15)

References:

 * 1.. British Columbia Artists


 * 2. Henderson Directory British Columbia Artists - http://www.sim-publishing.com/bca/bca-0282.htm


 * 3. Artists Overland – A Visual record of British Columbia 1793- 1886 Burnaby Art Gallery- British Columbia Artists http://www.sim-publishing.com/bca/bca-0033.htm


 * 4. Painting in Canada/a history – Early Painters and Engravers -J. Russell Harper - U of T Press. ISBN 0-8020-1630-8 P 204, 205 also  p 268 British Columbia Artists -              http://www.sim-publishing.com/bca/bca-0335.htm

https://archive.org/details/paintingincanada0000harp


 * 5. Fine Arts in Vancouver- British Columbia Artists – William Wylie Thom  (Thesis)  British Columbia Artists    709-711T45F - http://www.sim-publishing.com/bca/bca-0314.htm


 * 6. The New Dominion Monthly -1867 -1910 -1 867-1910 https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_06581_4/2


 * 7. Pioneer Art Gallery – British Columbia Artists http://www.sim-publishing.com/bca/artstore.htm


 * 8. Desolations to Splendor  Maria Tippett & Douglas. ISBN 0 -7720-1048

https://www.archive.org/details/fromdesolationto0000tipp


 * 9. Coast, Sea and Canadian Art – The Gallery , Stratford, Ontario-

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL4205840M/ Coasts_the_sea_and_Canadian_art

https://www.tomhuhuronroberts.com


 * 10. Dictionary of Canadian Artists - Roberts, Huron Tomtu, 1858/9-1938, (McKendry; Harper; Biographical Index of Artists in Canada; Dictionary of Canadian Artists, vol. 7, p.      2180) ISBN 0919554199

https://www.lareau-law.ca/peintres_1R.html


 * 11. 1980 “The  Marketing of a Gentleman artist” –Tomtu H. Roberts -(news article) Brenda  White– News Article Vancouver Sun https://www.tomhuhuronroberts.com


 * 12. Canadian artist’s life mysterious- CanadiAntiquer” (newspaper) April 1983 – Painting listed given to the Vancouver Archives is published in Artist Overland

https://www.tomhuhuronroberts.com


 * 13. Artists Overland – A Visual record of British Columbia 1793- 1886 Burnaby Art Gallery- British Columbia Artists http://www.sim-publishing.com/bca/bca-0033.htm     The painting given to the archives are listed on page 149


 * 14. Edmonton Sun - Oct 31, 1980, Artscene 1980 , Oct 31, 1980 , by Storey Two Good    ( Roberts at Graphica Art Gallery)   http://sim-publishing.com/bca/gallery.htm


 * 15. Reference to B.C. Vital Statistics - British Columbia Artist - http://www.sim-publishing.com/bca/robertst.htm

External Links:
Website with Tomhu’s painting - https://tomhuhuronroberts.com/

British Columbia Artists - http://www.sim-publishing.com/bca/robertst.htm

Early Painter and Engravers in Canada by J  Russel Harper U. of Toronto Press, p268  - http://www.sim-publishing.com/bca/bca-0315.htm

https://archive.org/details/paintingincanada0000harp

Desolation to Splendor -Maria Tippett & Douglas Cole British Columbia Artists  ISBN 0-7720-1048X - https://archive.org/details/fromdesolationto0000tipp  http://www.sim-publishing.com/bca/bca-0444.htm

Dictionary of Canadian Artists – Colin S. McDonald 1997British Columbia Artists - http://www.sim-publishing.com/bca/bca-0312.htm - Under Roberts, Huron, Tomtu  https://www.lareau-law.ca/peintres_1R.html

Pioneer Art Gallery -  British Columbia Artists - http://www.sim-publishing.com/bca/artstore.htm

Union List of Artists 1982 - http://www.sim-publishing.com/bca/bca-0320.htm

Quotes and Family History - https://www.tomhuhuronroberts.com/

Roberts Heritage Foundation Booklet – (25 year old Foundation) -https://www.azatlan.com/RobertsHeritage.php

Exhibition Notice Roberts at Graphica Art Gallery, Edmonton, Nov 1 -14, 1980 with reproduction of “Golden Rocks at Sunset” painted 1886 - http://sim-publishing.com/bca/gallery.htm

Tomtu Huron Roberts – Early Canadian Artist – Catalogue – Art Show -  https://archives.library.wales/index.php/printed-catalogue-of-exhibition-of-paintings-by-thomhu-h-roberts-1859-1938-early-canadian-artist-at-petrov-restoration-gallery