Harold Mortimer Lamb

Book excerpt: Harold Mortimer-Lamb’s name is in the index of almost every book written on the history of Canadian art, yet his place in that world has never been clear. Photographer, writer, painter, promoter—he was a man of many parts and the ideal patron and friend to some of Canada's most famous artists, including A.Y. Jackson, Emily Carr, and Jack Shadbolt. At the centre of his story are his relationships with painter Frederick Varley and young student Vera Weatherbie, whom Mortimer-Lamb, at the age of seventy, eventually married, when she was just thirty. Profusely illustrated with his photos, paintings, and the art he collected, Harold Mortimer-Lamb: The Art Lover brings into focus an unknown chapter in Canadian art history.