The Caribou Hunter, 1930

Private Collection Joyner Fine Art, auction, Toronto, 23 May 2000, lot 6 Private Collection, Ontario

Arthur Heming painted from experience, having spent many years involved in lumbering, mining, railroading, big game hunting and the rugged lifestyle of living on the land. From an early age, Heming had excelled at sport and artistic endeavours. Around 1890 the artist became a freelance illustrator and embarked on many expeditions into the wilderness to capture romantic scenes of adventure for illustrations in books and publications. Life in the backcountry captured his interest, not in terms of the sentimentality of the picturesque countryside or forest, but in the power of nature. Heming wrote of his inspiration to explore and paint the wilds of Canada. He referenced the brutal death of his uncle as the impetus in his imagination towards the cycle of nature year on year. Heming did not envision his work ensconced in art museums, and had approached the Hudson Bay Company to include his work as a contributor to the history of Canadian wilderness exploration. Instead, in 1921, the Royal Ontario Museum purchased a selection of his fur trade paintings. The recognition for his work came from the natural history branch of the museum rather than the fine arts branch. A collection of paintings entered the Royal Ontario Museum of Zoology and in 1962 transitioned to the Canadiana collection of the museum. This work, “The Caribou Hunter”, is the study for the painting of the same name in the Royal Ontario Museum collection. Many of the works purchased by the Royal Ontario Museum were created for the book “The Drama of the Forests, which Maclean’s Magazine then reproduced for their covers throughout the early 1920’s.