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TOM THOMSON
1877 - 1917
Since
his untimely and mysterious death in 1917, Tom Thomson has become
the most famous artist in the history of this country and his life
has become a Canadian legend. He was raised on a farm in Owen Sound,
Ontario, and as a young man seemed unable to settle down. He eventually
found work in a photo-engraving firm in Seattle. By 1905 he was back
in Ontario. He joined a Toronto commercial art firm, Grip Ltd. There
he came into contact with men with serious artistic ambitions - J.E.H.
MacDonald, Frank Johnston, and later Arthur Lismer and Franklin Carmichael.
When
he joined their weekend sketching trips outside the city, Thomson's
art improved, and he was encouraged by his colleagues and by his expanding
circle of friends: Lawren Harris, Frederick Varley and A.Y. Jackson.
Thomson in turn enthusiastically conveyed to the other artists his
affinity for northern Ontario, particularly Algonquin Park, which
he had first visited in May 1912; the area became his preferred place
for the rest of his life. When in 1914 he gave up his work to paint
fulltime, Thomson spent spring, summer, and fall in the Park, returning
to Toronto only in the coldest winter months. An accomplished outdoorsman,
fisherman and canoeist, Thomson earned a subsistence living as a guide
at Algonquin, a lifestyle that freed him to work in the natural setting
he loved and painted. In the winter he lived in a rented construction
shack behind the Studio Building in Toronto, where he produced large
canvases worked up from the previous season's outdoor sketches. His
West Wind and The Jack Pine have become two of the best-known works
of Canadian art.
The
final years of Tom Thomson's life saw the full flowering of his talent.
He found a way of life that suited him admirably and a confidence
in his painting that established his mature style. Thomson did not
simply depict the the literal appearance of the Algonquin landscape;
his interest was in showing its moods, weather and seasonal changes.
The
work in this collection of prints demonstrates Thomson's artistic
power at its height. Thomson painted on the spot on small wooden panels
about 8" x 10", revealing the artist's immediate impressions of the
day - ie. Split Rock Gap, Sunrise, Sunset, Canoe Lake. Thomson's technique
captures the movement of clouds and the sensation of light and shadow.
The format is a recurrent theme in his work: the low horizon of land
is dwarfed by the more massive formations overhead, no matter what
the time of day or weather conditions. Thomson also favoured more
initimate corners of the wilderness. Many paintings, such as Autumn
Garland, Snow In The Woods and Autumn Birches, reveal the patterns
and the subtle colour tones of a scene closely viewed.
Tom
Thomson died suddenly by drowning in Canoe Lake in his beloved Algonquin
Park at the age of thirty-nine. Today the event is still the subject
of debate over whether he died by accident or foul play. Whatever
the truth, his loss was deeply felt by those artists around him who,
three years later, would form The Group of Seven. His love of the
north and his bold and experimental style had been inspirational to
them. Since then Canadians have been captivated both by the story
of his life and by his exciting paintings of Ontario's northland.
Lismer called Tom Thomson "the voyageur, the discoverer...He felt
nature - he adored her - crept into her moods,....and his canvases
lived in the Canadian mind."
Sources:
The National Gallery and 'The McMichael Collection' |
