On the Matter of Memory

Born in 1919 in the Black community of Weymouth Falls, Nova Scotia, Harold Cromwell was a descendant of the Black Loyalists who settled in the area in 1783. He was also a prolific folk artist with an acute talent for observation. His meticulous, textured pen and ink illustrations — drawn on everything from cupboard doors and scraps of paper to “Royal Chinet” paper plates — capture his responses to the experience growing up in rural Nova Scotia. For over 50 years, he depicted scenes from his Depression-era childhood, everyday life in a rural community in early twentieth century Nova Scotia, and people at work – picking apples, digging clams, gathering wood, or farming.

Cromwell’s monochromatic ballpoint pen drawings stand in stark contrast to some of the more famous names in Nova Scotian folk art. Ranging from richly rendered landscapes to social scenes full of sometimes comic detail, his drawings tell “real stories” about rural life in Black Nova Scotia and the cultural, economic, and technological shifts that he experienced during his lifetime.

Harold Cromwell (1919-2008), descended from Black Loyalists who settled in Weymouth Falls in 1783, worked from a young age at his uncle’s farm and later at the Goodwin Hotel. During WWII, he served in England supporting soldiers with combat fatigue. While he was recovering from wounds at Debert Military Hospital, nurses gave him drawing materials, sparking a lifelong passion. Working primarily with the humble materials of pencil and ball-point pen on plain white paper or wood, Cromwell was neither a painter nor a carver. For over 50 years, Cromwell, through his drawings, depicted memories, stories, and anecdotes of daily life, especially in the African Nova Scotian community of Weymouth Falls; his art looked back to an idealized Nova Scotian past, one of close-knit community and family life.