This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  The following, submitted January 2006, is from Peggi Calder, of
Dunvegan, Ontario, Canada. She is the great-granddaughter of the
artist.
Paul Giovanni Wickson was a Canadian, born July 28, 1859 in Toronto, Ontario to the Rev. Arthur Wickson and Mary Ann Thomas.
Arthur Wickson was the son of James and Jane Wickson of Toronto, and
became the first registrar of University College, Toronto. Mary
Ann was the daughter of William Thomas, an architectural giant of the
nineteenth century, who built churches and buildings of commerce from
Halifax to Upper Canada.
Due to Arthur's poor health, the family moved to England in 1871, and
Paul, who had already shown his talent, was enrolled in the South
Kensington School of Art. He graduated in 1878 with the Queen's
silver "National Medal for Success in Art".
In 1885, he returned to Canada to marry Elizabeth Hamilton whom he had
met in England. Her father was Norman Hamilton of Paris, Ontario
and her family home, "Hamilton Place" on the banks of the Grand River,
was to be his residence for the rest of his life. The house,
designed in the Georgian style, and described in "Ancestral Roof" by
Marion MacRae and Anthony Adamson, is an excellent example of the local
cobblestone buildings. The roof-top belvedere became Paul
Wickson's studio.
After struggling to find his direction, he turned to painting the
essential Canada - the agriculture of the day, which was dominated by
the horse. He began by painting race horses and visited farms
throughout the area in this pursuit.
Inspired by the challenge of Sir William Van Horne, who had said that
he would like to see a Canadian paint a Canadian historical picture,
Paul produced The March of Civilization - a quietly powerful
view of a plains Indian wrapped in his blanket regarding a sturdy
settler holding his powerful team of horses beside his one-furrow
plow. In the distance, on the flat prairie land, is the Indian's
horse and travois.
This work gained him notice in Canadian government circles, was
purchased by the Canadian commissioner for the Canadian building at the
Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, and other masterpieces in the
series followed for the 1904 St. Louis Exhibition.
March of Civilization was used (in a reverse view) on the Northern Bank of Winnipeg's $5 bill issued Nov. 1, 1905.
His prosperous career included many works for the Osborne Calendar
Company of Newark, N.J., book illustrations and a number of other
pieces relevant to the Boer and First World Wars.
He died suddenly on September 2, 1922 while working in his beloved
gardens and is buried in the Hamilton family plot in Paris, Ontario.
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