O-969

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painting (portrait)

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The Right Honourable John George Diefenbaker

Portrait of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker

John Diefenbaker was born in Neustadt, Ontario in 1895. He become a trial lawyer and legendary orator. He brought in the Canadian Bill of Rights, guaranteed voting rights to Indigenous Canadians, and appointed Ellen Fairclough as the first female cabinet minister. His fractious relationship with the government of U.S. President John F. Kennedy fomented dissent in his own cabinet and contributed to his downfall.

Cleeve Horne’s 1968 portrait is notably modern, with angular drapery on the robe, granite-like carving of the face, and a contrasting vertical pattern in the background. It’s an image of a man of dogged determination.

Cleeve Horne

Cleeve Horne was born in Jamaica in 1912 and his family moved to Toronto when he was a boy. By his teenaged years he was exhibiting his art to acclaim. He studied at the Ontario College of Art and in England, and married the sculptor Jean Mildred Horne. He painted hundreds of portraits of prominent Canadians and his work is held in public and private collections across the country. He started his career in sculpture, the influence of which is evident in the sculpted visage of his subject in his official portrait of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.