"I can't go any further in simplification than I have done …" and "The conclusion I reached, was that the less I interfered with the bare paper confronting me, the better, the truer to the Bay (Georgian Bay), the drawing would be." About portraiture he said: "Canada has no tradition of portraits, no tradition of freely painted faces here…I don't want to overstate it but I don't think Canadian painting has much of a tradition except for landscapes."

About his education, it must be said, he was a highly educated, distinguished scholar … of German literature. He taught and studied at the University of Jena, Germany, where he earned his PhD. He emigrated to Canada in 1910 where he taught German literature at the University of Alberta, Edmonton and was a professor in the German Department of the University of Toronto, Ontario (1915 - 1957). He was a world recognized authority on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and author of the books Goethe As Revealed in His Poetry (1932), A Study of Goethe"(1947), and Goethe's Faust in English (1970).

As for painting, he is as self-taught as a man could be who went on painting excursions with, and included, as close friends, some of the most prominent Canadian artists of his or any time. He began painting in 1932 when Robert Finch, a professor in the French Department at the University of Toronto invited him to go sketching one morning. He was 45 years old.

His works are in many private collections. They are also in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), the University of Toronto (Hart House) and the Canada Council Art Bank. His numerous awards included two of Canada's highest honours: The Order of Canada OC (1979) and Fellowship in the Royal Canadian Society (1947). He also held seven honorary doctorates.

Source: Ask Art.com