William R. Watson

[4] He immigrated to Canada in 1905 and got his first job, with John Ogilvy, a former dry goods merchant who ran an art business as a hobby.

He recalled later that they sold contemporary French, English, and Dutch paintings, sent from England by Harry Wallis, an art dealer in London.

[5] Watson, who advocated that Ogilvy take on works of Canadian art, was told that they were too noisy to mix with quiet Dutch pictures.

[4][5] In Paris, Watson bought paintings by Maurice Utrillo among others and purchased many by Eugène Boudin from the firm of Durand-Ruel, which had been the artist's champion.

[7] Other Canadian artists such as Helen McNicoll, found their work praised in the newspaper review he wrote in the Montreal Gazette.

[5] His ledger books show that Watson was also interested in earlier Canadian art, such as the paintings of Cornelius Krieghoff and Otto Reinhold Jacobi.

[11] His memoir, Retrospective: Recollections of an Art Dealer, was written shortly before his death, edited by his daughters, and published posthumously by the University of Toronto Press in 1974.

[6][12] In the National Post, writer Arnold Edinborough described it as "a sunny account of a life lived in the midst of great paintings and among a host of artists who became friends.