Thomas Keith Roberts
(1909 - 1998) OSA, RCA

Born in 1909, Tom Roberts was the grandson of Samuel Roberts, founder of the Roberts Gallery in 1842. Spending a lot of time in the gallery during his youth, Tom Roberts resolved at an early age to become an artist. He studied art at Toronto's Central Technical School and at the Ontario College of art under such well-known artists as J.W. Beatty and Fred Haines. His influences included Beatty and the Group of Seven. While in military service during the Second World War, he portrayed army life in pencil and watercolour sketches. After the war he painted landscapes at many locations as he travelled across the country. In the mid-1980s he held over 30 solo exhibitions in Toronto alone.