Horatio Walker

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Horatio Walker (May 12, 1858 – September 27, 1938) was a respected and commercially successful Canadian painter. He worked in oils and watercolors, often depicting scenes of rural life in Canada. He was influenced by the French Barbizon school of painting.

Walker was born at Listowel, Ontario on May 12, 1858. In 1873 he moved to Toronto, Ontario, where he was an apprentice at the photography firm of Notman and Frasier. In 1882 he moved to Rochester, New York. In 1883 he married Jeanette Pretty (d. 1938) of Toronto. They had two children, Alice (1884-1891) and Horatio Jr. (1886–1910). Walker was a member of several artists' organizations, including the American Watercolor Society (1882), the Royal Canadian Academy of Art (associate member in 1883, full member in 1913), the Society of American Artists (1887), the National Academy of Design (associate member in 1890, full member in 1891), and the British Institute of Watercolours (1901). He was a founding member of the Canadian Art Club, which elected him as its president in 1915. In 1928 he officially retired and moved to Sainte-Pétronille, Quebec. He died there on September 27, 1938.

Walker's awards and prizes include:

Gold medals, American Art Gallery, New York (1887, 1889)
Evans Prize, American Watercolor Society (1888)
Bronze medal, World Exposition, Paris, France (1889)
Gold medal, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois (1893)
Gold medal, Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, New York (1901)
Gold medal, Charleston Exposition, Charleston, South Carolina (1902)
Two gold medals (for oil and watercolor), Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Missouri (1904)
Medal of honor, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1906)
First prize, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts (1907)
Gold medal, Pan-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California (1915)