|
| 
A native of Ottawa,
Thomas Harold Beament left his hometown in 1917 and enlisted in the
Royal Canadian Naval
Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR). At the end of the war he studied law in
Toronto, passing the bar in 1923. A devotee of art, he also enrolled in
the Ontario College of Art in 1922 and represented Canada at the British
Empire Exposition in Wembley in 1924-1925. Upon returning to this
country, he moved to Montreal and earned his living as a commercial
artist. From 1930 to 1935, he again served in the military and commanded
the Montreal Division of the RCNVR. The Art Association of Montreal
awarded him the Jessie Dow Prize in 1935 and invited him to give a
course on painting, which he did in 1936-1937.
In September 1939, he enlisted as an officer in the Navy. In 1943, he
was promoted to commander and was appointed an official war artist, a
duty he performed until 1947. After he was demobilized, he devoted
himself to art and teaching. Beament travelled extensively during his
life and painted in many regions of the world. His paintings, in which
the sea was omnipresent, were often of the Inuit, another of his
favourite subjects. Elected a full member to the Royal Canadian Academy
of Arts in 1948, he served as its president from 1964 to 1967.
|
PA-153952
Commander
Thomas Harold Beament, from the
Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, in London, England.
2 February 1944.
 
|
