Hemy - Thomas Marie Madawaska Hemy (1852-1937)

He was a marine and coastal painter who opted for watercolour and oils. He was born on the passenger ship SS Madawaska while his family were en route from Newcastle to Australia. After two and a half years in Australia, he returned to Newcastle before later moving to North Shields, where he gained tuition in art from his uncle, Isaac Henzell. Hemy spent several years at sea and endured a shipwreck. When he returned to Newcastle he attended the towns School of Art, it was during this time that he exhibited for the first time. Within a year his work was hung in the Dudley Gallery, London. Around this time, his work had come to the attention of John George Sowerby, who sent him to study drawing under Verlat in Antwerp, Holland. He was younger brother to fellow artists Charles Napier Hemy and Bernard Benedict Hemy. He has exhibited at the Royal Socirty of Artists - Birmingham (6), the Dudley and New Dudley Galleries (2), Dowdeswell Galleries (1), Grosvenor Gallery (4), Glasgow Intitute of Fine Arts (6), The Walker Gallery - Liverpool (13), Manchester City Art Gallery (11), The Royal Academy (22), the Royal Society of British Artists (2), Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours (15), Royal Institute of Oil Painters (9). His daughter Gwenyth (Mrs Harold de Brath) was also a talented artist and exhibited at the Royal Academy.