Tom Thomson

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Tom Thomson Life & Work by David P. Silcox Tom Thomson, Moonlight, 1913–14, oil on canvas, 52.9 x 77.1 cm, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. This painting was the first of many works by Thomson that the National Gallery purchased, both during his life and later from his estate Everyone expected that the war in France would soon end, but as the months wore on, Jackson decided to enlist, followed by Varley and Harris. Thomson, although he had just turned thirty-seven, attempted to join up more than once, but he was not accepted—apparently because of his flat feet. Some of the other residents in Algonquin Park opposed his patriotic views about the war, and at times they argued angrily about Canada’s involvement in the conflict. Thomson expressed his anguish about the war in sketches such as Fire-Swept Hills, 1915, which echoed the turmoil, destruction, and death that was sweeping across France and Belgium. Gathering Momentum, 1915 Thomson spent the spring and summer of 1915 on long trips in different sections of Algonquin Park. A new cedar-strip canoe and a silk tent added to his pleasures and comforts, and his small oil sketches on wood panels mounted up impressively. He made little effort to sell them, and he generously gave many away to people who admired them. Only the canvases he sold brought in some money. To make ends meet, once Dr. James MacCallum’s year of support had ended, he worked as a fire ranger or fishing guide whenever he could. 14
Tom Thomson Life & Work by David P. Silcox Tom Thomson, Artist’s Camp, Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park, 1915, oil on wood, 21.9 x 27.2 cm, Thomson Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Over the years, Thomson painted at least four images of his tent In the fall Thomson joined J.E.H. MacDonald (1873–1932) at MacCallum’s cottage to measure the walls for a series of seven commissioned decorative panels. He then returned to the park, where he remained until the weather drove him back to Toronto at the end of November. He painted MacCallum’s panels that winter, but when it came time to install them in the spring, they didn’t all quite fit and four were returned to Toronto. MacCallum bequeathed the panels to the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, in 1943, along with eighty-five of Thomson’s paintings and oil sketches from his collection. 15
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Tom Thomson

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