A. J. Lamont’s
Watercolour Paintings
As shown in "About A. J. and M. Lamont”, A. J. was Archibald James Lamont, or ‘Archie’ to all who knew him (he was never spoken of or to as just 'AJ').
Archie was married to Margaret Louisa Cunningham Wares, otherwise known as 'Meg', in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1918. Archie and Meg emigrated to Toronto. He soon started to work at the Toronto Works of the Massey Ferguson farm implement manufacturer. By the time he retired in 1964, Archie was Master Mechanic at the Toronto Works. Before and after retirement, Archie and Meg spent all of their free time travelling to England and Scotland and some other places. Meg suffered a devastating stroke in 1968, but was kept alive until 1971. Archie died in 1974.
Archie probably started to dabble in sketching and water-colour painting in the later 1940s. The earliest of his currently known paintings shows a date of ‘1949’. The last of his known paintings shows a date of '1957'. Archie’s entire body of work, as presently known, has been with watercolours, and all of his paintings are landscapes.
Two individuals appear as amorphous shapes in two of Archie’s paintings. His wife Meg can be identified in one; and Meg and their daughter Margaret can be seen in a second.
Archie’s wife Meg began painting around the same time as Archie did. While she worked almost exclusively with oils, it is known that she produced at least one well executed watercolour piece. Both were definitely ‘amateur painters’ but with good form & colour.
All framed pieces are known to reside in family collections. There are in addition two sketch books and several loose paintings and form/shape/colour studies. Some of the works in the sketch books are similar to paintings that were framed. Archie is known to have reproduced several times (each with subtle variations) one particular painting. These were given to selected friends.
During one of his visits to England on behalf of Massey-Ferguson in 1950, he formed some kind of association with an individual whose name we know only as ‘W. Rawcliffe’. This individual was a proficient water-colourist, and it appears that Archie picked up many tips from him. Read about W. Rawcliffe’s watercolour paintings here. W. Rawcliffe also created a pair of caricatures of Archie Lamont – one of which captured the essence of Archie to a ‘T’. Access these works here.