McMaster Museum of Art recently received ten watercolours by Canadian artist and McMaster alumnus John Hartman (McMaster University, Class of ‘73). All ten are views of Hamilton Harbour as seen from the Mountain brow or Eastport Drive 2002-2003 and were generously donated by artist.

“We are thrilled to add these exceptionally fine sketches to our collection. To bring together the efforts of an internationally recognized McMaster alumnus; a campus collection and scenes of our city, seems particularly enriching for the University, The Museum and the City of Hamilton,” says Carol Podedworny, Museum of Art Director and Chief Curator. “We are most indebted to John for his generosity and for continuing to think of both Hamilton and the University as ‘home’.”

Hartman established his reputation with the exhibition Painting the Bay at the McMichael Canadian Collection in 1993, comprising large-scale paintings of Georgian Bay, aerial views of the landscape. He continued to experiment with works that combined figurative, narrative and landscape. In 1995-1997, The McMaster Museum of Art organized and circulated With Minimal Means, a solo exhibition of John Hartman’s work, circulated to six venues across the country. In 2003, he began to paint aerial views of cities as living organisms with particular interest in cities that are also ports, including Hamilton. These paintings; including views of cities both large and small, from Parry Sound, Port Severn and Owen Sound, to London, New York, Toronto, Montreal and Glasgow; made up the exhibition and book Cities which toured Canada and internationally from 2007 to 2009.