Hammond’s work
at the Globe as arts editor put him in regular contact with members
of the Canadian arts communities and over time, he developed close
personal friendships with many of the leading artists and writers
of his day including Horatio Walker, Mazo de la Roche, Bliss Carman,
Duncan Campbell Scott, Owen Staples, C. W. Jefferys and George
Reid.
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Click to
see a larger image (164K)
Artist, Owen Staples, Meadowvale, June 1923
M. O. Hammond
Black and white negative
Reference Code: F 1075
Archives of Ontario, I0001098 |
Hammond also had many opportunities
to cultivate his friendship with artists and writers through the
Arts and Letters Club, a men’s club established in Toronto
in 1908 as a place to foster genial conversation about the arts,
literature and music among fellow artists or art enthusiasts and
for members to exhibit or perform their work.
Hammond was one of the founding members of the Club and remained
active throughout his life, participating in salons and other
club activities and photographing many of the club events and
members. The Arts and Letters Club attracted some of the leading
artists and photographers in the city, including fellow photographers
Newton McTavish and Arthur Goss as well as many artists, including
most members of the Group of Seven.
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Canadian Art Club Group, 1909
M. O. Hammond
Black and white negative
Reference Code: F 1075-12-0-0-98
Archives of Ontario, I0007865 |
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“Events
today focused a good deal around undertaking to photograph
a bunch of members of the Canadian Art Club…present
were assembled Horatio Walker, Phemister Proctor, Edmund
Morris, Curtis Williamson, Archibald Browne and E. Atkinson…they
were a stiff lot too. They were very deferential to one
another and especially Walker and Proctor. They found it
very hard to get easy in position. For men who were always
putting others in unconventional poses, they were most conventional
and conscious.“
April 18, 1909 |
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Hammond likely began photographing
artists and writers to illustrate articles he wrote for the Globe
and other publications. He quickly developed a reputation as a
portrait photographer and was asked by various artists groups
like the Canadian Art Club and individual artists and writers
to prepare publicity photographs.
Hammond’s catalogue of images of artists and writers expanded
and requests for copies, not only by the artists, but by publishers,
or others interested in the arts increased.
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By the mid-1920s, Hammond
embarked on a project to compile a complete inventory of portraits
of all Canadian artists and writers, both living and dead, copying
paintings or other photographs where a particular artist had died.
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Click to see
a larger image (147K)
George Reid, August 2, 1930
M. O. Hammond
Black and white negative
Reference Code: F 1075
Archives of Ontario, I0016559
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Click
to see a larger image (85K)
C. W. Jefferys, August 2, 1930
M. O. Hammond
Black and white negative
Reference Code: F 1075
Archives of Ontario, I0016559
Each one of his portraits was accompanied
by a well-researched biographical sketch, some of which appeared
in the Globe or other publications. |
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Eventually, Hammond turned
his venture into a successful enterprise, expanding and marketing
his collection of portraits and brief biographies to art galleries,
libraries, or anybody interested in buying a single copy or the
entire collection.
Hammond’s efforts to promote Canadian art and artists did
not go unnoticed, leading the Director of the National Gallery
of Canada, H. O. McCurry, to remark in 1931: “you are rapidly
becoming the recognized historian of art in Canada” (letter
to M. O. Hammond, from H. O. McCurry, August, 1931) |
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