Group of Seven Artist Biography

Arthur Heming 1870 - 1940

Arthur Henry Howard Heming was born in Paris, Ontario. His family moved to Hamilton around 1882.
He attended the Hamilton Art School and taught there (1887 – 1890).
He worked as a newspaper illustrator until 1899 when he studied at the Art Students League, New York.

While working in New York as an illustrator, he was sent by Harper’s Magazine to the barren lands in the Arctic Circle. He wrote and illustrated several books on Canadian wildlife.

Heming did not start painting in colour until he was 60 years old. He had been told years earlier that he was partially colour blind. Fearing to make an improper or incorrect colour choice, he worked only in black, white and yellow. At the age of 60 it was determined that he was not colour blind.

He became an Associate Member of the Royal Canadian Academy (A.R.C.A.) in 1934. His work is a part of the Canadian Collection in the National Gallery of Canada and the Royal Ontario Museum. He died in Hamilton at the age of 70.