Randolph Stanley Hewton is often linked to the Group of Seven, as he was a frequent sketching partner of A.Y. Jackson. Hewton’s work shared the sense of discovery of the new Canadian landscape. He was also well known for his portraits and figure paintings, which were lauded for their modern style.

Hewton was born in Mégantic, Quebec. He studied under William Brymner in 1903 at the Art Association of Montreal where he won the Wood Scholarship. He then went on to study under Jean Paul Laurens and Caro Drevaille at the Académie Julian in Paris. Hewton met with Jackson on his trip to Paris in 1912, and in 1913 they jointly exhibited at the Art Association of Montreal. The show drew criticism and was not financially profitable, as critics were not receptive to the French school of painting. Hewton began working in his uncle’s firm before enlisting in the 24th Batallion in 1915. In 1917 he transferred to the 7th London Regiment. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1918 for gallantry during the Somme offensive. After the ceasefire, Hewton took a week’s leave in order to sketch the battlefields, and Jackson described the results as “vigorous.” In 1920 he was invited to show in the first Group of Seven exhibition and in 1921 was elected an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy.

He also was instrumental in founding and setting the direction of the Beaver Hall Group in 1920, a group of Montreal-based artists who met while studying art under Brymner. The group, which included both male and female artists, is noted for embracing both modernist and traditional styles and supporting Jazz Age modernism. In the years after the war, Hewton went to work for the paper box makers Miller Brothers, where he eventually became president in 1921. He was popular with the workers, and though he left in 1921 to become principal of the Montreal Arts Association, he returned to the Miller Brothers in 1926 as president. In his later years he found little time to paint.

The National Gallery of Canada has a number of Hewton’s figurative works in their collection. The Art Gallery of Hamilton held an exhibition of his work in 1947. He is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Quebec Provincial Museum, and the Art Gallery of Ontario, among others. He was a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters.