Cleeve Horne

Arthur Edward Cleeve Horne, OC, O.Ont, RCA, OSA, SSC, CPA, AOCA (January 9, 1912 – July 5, 1998) was a Canadian portrait painter and sculptor.

Born in Jamaica, British West Indies, Horne, primarily a society painter, is thought to have painted over 400 portraits during his career ca.(1928–1991). His most notable subjects include Alexander Graham Bell, Claude Bissell, Bora Laskin, Pauline Mills McGibbon, Jeanne Sauvé and John Diefenbaker among many others.

At college he met Jean Harris (a sculpture student); they later married and had three sons. He lived the majority of his life in Toronto, raising himself to the mid-upper ranks of society by wise marketing and excellent business skills.

In Horne's early career, he wanted to become a portrait sculptor and studied under Dorothy Dick, a British sculptor, in 1927. Later he attended the Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, Canada 1931-1934 first studying sculpture under Emanuel Hahn but soon changing to portrait painting. He also studied portrait and landscape painting under John Wentworth Russell 1934-1935.

He was told by Emanuel Hahn, "A sculptor can never change his hand and become a painter." Horne, however, achieved much more acclaim as a painter than a sculptor.

Horne owned two houses that were both designed by prominent architectural firms. One was a permanent residence at 181 Balmoral Avenue in Toronto, built in 1952 and designed by Gordon Adamson. The other was a summer home at 1950 Concession 8 in Pickering, Ontario. The summer home was built in 1957 and designed by architects Michael Clifford and Kenneth Lewis, and features a hyperbolic paraboloid roof.

Cleeve Horne died at Toronto, Ontario, Canada of a respiratory-related illness. He was in his 87th year.

Since Horne's death in 1998, his portrait paintings have been exhibited across Canada by the Canadian Portrait Academy.

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  Cleeve Horne's sculpture of Alexander Graham Bell in front of the Brantford Bell Telephone Building

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  Cleeve Horne's sculpture of Alexander Graham Bell in front of the Brantford Bell Telephone Building

Horne was a member of the Ontario Society of Artists and held position as President from 1949-1951. He was also a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Sculptor’s Society of Canada and the Canadian Portrait Academy.

• bas-relief on Bank of Canada Building (Toronto) 1954

• 1934 Awarded the Lieutenant Governor's Medal for Painting at the Ontario College of Art (first recipient)
• 1963 Awarded the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's Allied Arts Medal
• 1965 Awarded the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts Medal
• 1967 Awarded the Canadian Centennial Medal
• 1977 Awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal
• 1982 Awarded the Ontario Society of Arts Award
• 1992 Awarded the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal
• 1984 Appointment as "fellow", Ontario College of Art & Design
• 1987 Appointment to the Order of Ontario
• 1997 Appointed as honorary academician of the Canadian Portrait Academy
• 1997 Appointment as officer of the Order of Canada
• 1999 Named "One of the Top 100 Portrait Artists of the 20th Century by the Canadian Portrait Academy