The Canadian painter Tom Thomson (1877-1917) was the forerunner of the Group of Seven, the national movement in landscape painting. He is best known as an interpreter of the Canadian wilderness.
In 1911 Thomson made his first sketching trip by canoe into the Mississauga Forest Reserve with one of his fellow artists. The following year he went on a longer trip into Algonquin Park, a provincial forest with which his name has been linked ever since. When he returned to Toronto with a number of small oil sketches, he happened to drop in on his friend MacDonald when Dr. J. M. MacCallum was in the studio. The doctor, the friend and patron of the Group of Seven, was immediately impressed with Thomson, and when he later saw the sketches, he recognized their truthfulness in spite of their dark color and timid handling.
Each year, with growing mastery, Thomson charted the changing seasons in Algonquin Park with a steady stream of sketches, from dazzling impressions of sunlight on snow in March, the breakup of the ice in spring, the flaming sunsets and northern lights of summer, to the pageantry of autumn's reds and golds and the gathering snow clouds over the bleak November landscape. In winter he would return to his studio in Toronto to paint the large canvases for which he is best known. The flat pattern, swinging line, and rich texture of the larger pictures reflect the influence of the Art Nouveau style then in vogue; but in the original sketches the strong color, bold design, and rapid brushwork have a conviction and expressive force never equaled in paintings of the Canadian northland.
Tragedy struck in the summer of 1917. On July 8 Thomson set off for a day's fishing on Canoe Lake. His upturned canoe was found that evening; his body, with the legs tangled in a fishing line, a week later.
In 1911 Thomson made his first sketching trip by canoe into the Mississauga Forest Reserve with one of his fellow artists. The following year he went on a longer trip into Algonquin Park, a provincial forest with which his name has been linked ever since. When he returned to Toronto with a number of small oil sketches, he happened to drop in on his friend MacDonald when Dr. J. M. MacCallum was in the studio. The doctor, the friend and patron of the Group of Seven, was immediately impressed with Thomson, and when he later saw the sketches, he recognized their truthfulness in spite of their dark color and timid handling.
Each year, with growing mastery, Thomson charted the changing seasons in Algonquin Park with a steady stream of sketches, from dazzling impressions of sunlight on snow in March, the breakup of the ice in spring, the flaming sunsets and northern lights of summer, to the pageantry of autumn's reds and golds and the gathering snow clouds over the bleak November landscape. In winter he would return to his studio in Toronto to paint the large canvases for which he is best known. The flat pattern, swinging line, and rich texture of the larger pictures reflect the influence of the Art Nouveau style then in vogue; but in the original sketches the strong color, bold design, and rapid brushwork have a conviction and expressive force never equaled in paintings of the Canadian northland.
Tragedy struck in the summer of 1917. On July 8 Thomson set off for a day's fishing on Canoe Lake. His upturned canoe was found that evening; his body, with the legs tangled in a fishing line, a week later.
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| Mr Tom Thomson |
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| View of Lake Washington, 1904 |
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| Northern Lake, spring or fall 1912 |
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| Pine trees at sunset, 1912 |
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Smoke Lake, Algonquin Park, 1912
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| Spring, 1914 |
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| Georgian Bay, Ontario, 1914 |
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| Shack in the North Country, fall 1914 |
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| The Brook, 1914 |
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| Autumn's garland, 1915 |
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| Autumns garland, Winter 1915 |
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| Day dreaming, 1915 |
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| Evening cloud, fall-winter 1915 |
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| Fire Swept Hills, 1915 |
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Forbes Hill Huntsville, 1915
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Lakeside, Spring, Algonquin Park, Spring 1915
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| Moonlight, Algonquin Park, 1915 |
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Lightning, Canoe Lake, 1915
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| Northern lights, 1915 |
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Northern River, 1915
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Round Lake, Mud Bay, Fall 1915
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Summer day, 1915
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Autumn foliage, 1916
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Autumn Petawawa, 1916
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Autumn, three trout, Fall 1916
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Bateaux, 1916
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Campfire, 1916
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| Cranberry marsh, 1916 |
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| Dark waters, Spring, 1916 |
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| Early snow, 1916–17 |
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| Log jam sketch for The Drive, Fall 1916 |
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| Snow in the Woods, Fall 1916 |
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| Spring Break-up, Spring 1916 |
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| Spring Woods, 1916 |
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| Spring, Canoe Lake, 1916 |
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| Summer clouds, Summer 1916 |
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| Sunset, Algonquin Park, 1916 |
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| Tamarack swamp, 1916 |
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| The West Wind, Winter 1916-17 |
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| Spring in Algonquin Park, Spring 1917 |
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| Woods in winter, 1917 |
great collection of work, thanks.
ReplyDeleteThis painter Tom Tomson is absolutely amazing. His colors his forms his Nature are almost too much too brilliant too take in. He and Vincent would have enjoyed a couple of beers together, or long walks in the woods, by the sea, the rivers, the lakes...God rest his brilliant soul!
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