Hurley, Robert Newton, 1894-1980 : Robert Newton Hurley (1894-1980). The artist was born in the district of Bromley-by-Bow, London, England, on March 24, 1894. Hurley left school at the age of fourteen, and after a series of early menial jobs was employed as an apprentice compositor with the printing company, Terry and Co. in London. Weak eyesight caused him to lose this employment and he subsequently worked as a farm labourer. He joined the army in 1917, and following his discharge in 1920, again worked as a labourer. During these years he studied art on his own, also taking the A. W. Rich water colourist course and studying the Richmond-Little John Water Colour Technique. He familiarized himself with the watercolours of Joseph Mallord William Turner and John Sell Cotman at the National Gallery and the British Museum, artists whose influences can be seen in his work. In 1923 he came to Canada to work for the Canadian Pacific Railway. He worked and settled in Milden, Saskatchewan in 1928, and afterwards moved on to Saskatoon. He married in 1932 and then with his family experienced the financial hardship of the Depression. All the while Hurley produced paintings, sold some to friends, and painted and trained with local artists. The isolation and poverty of the lean years crystallized his method as a painter. His work can be associated with the luminists who translated scenes in terms of space and light to create mood and his personal style was defined by his mastery of technique in the handling of washes and colour. He won numerous prizes for his work, contributing to exhibitions at the Saskatchewan Provincial Exhibitions, the Manitoba Society of Artists, and the Ontario Society of Artists. Dr. Max Stern of the Dominion Gallery in Montreal bought some of his work. In 1942 he was hired to work as a lab technician at the University of Saskatchewan, gaining new financial stability. He moved his family to Sutherland (now part of Saskatoon), and saw the 1940's and 1950's as a time of prosperity where the demand for his paintings exceeded the supply. In 1958 the Government of Alberta awarded him a three year grant to paint, which involved as well the acquisition of some of his work, allowing him to leave his lab position. In 1962 he moved to Victoria for health reasons. The move did not solve his health problems, nor was he as comfortable with the change of environment and scenery as he had been before, although he continued to explore his talent and to paint. Biographers agree that his hallmark works are the visions of the vast prairie landscape. He died in Victoria in 1980.
