Tom Thomson

Tom Thomson
Life & Work by David P. Silcox
1917. His brush strokes became bold and expressive, and he seemed to be moving
inexorably toward abstraction.
Tom Thomson, The Rapids, 1917, oil on wood panel, 21.6 x 26.7 cm private
collection. This painting initially belonged to Thomson’s friend A.Y. Jackson. As he
told his niece Dr. Naomi Groves Jackson, “He chose this work after Thomson’s
death because he could never paint a river the way Thomson did.”
Tom Thomson, Spring Flood, 1917, oil on wood panel, 21.2 x 26.8 cm, McMichael
Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario. Here in a few quick, expressive brush
strokes, Thomson captures the melting ice and snow amid the promise of an early
spring
Dr. James MacCallum described Thomson’s paintings as an “Encyclopedia of the
North,” a visual account of the terrain in every season, time of day, and kind of weather.
Algonquin Park, much as Thomson loved it, however, could not remain an infinite source
of inspiration if he was to continue to grow in stature as an artist. That spring of 1917,
Thomson seems to have been eager to extend his exploration of northern subjects—and
his treatment of them in his paintings. He had just had the most productive period of his
life in his studio in Toronto, and his sketches show clearly that he was brimming with
new ideas about what he could capture and reveal in his forthcoming paintings.
A Mysterious Death
On the morning of July 8, 1917, several people
saw Thomson with Shannon Fraser, the owner
of Mowat Lodge where Thomson often stayed,
walking toward the Joe Lake dam. Mark
Robinson, the park ranger, noted in his diary that
Thomson “left Fraser’s Dock after 12:30 pm to
go to Tea Lake Dam or West Lake.”
Thomson’s body was found in Canoe Lake eight
days later, on July 16, and was immediately
interred in a nearby grave. The Thomson family
sent an undertaker from Huntsville to remove
the body and transport it to Leith, for burial in the
family plot at the cemetery there. The official
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Tom Thomson, Mowat Lodge (or Fraser’s Lodge),
1915, oil on panel, 21.9 x 27 cm, Art Gallery of
Alberta, Edmonton. When it was too cold to camp
out in his tent in Algonquin Park, Thomson often
stayed at Mowat Lodge, where workers at the
local lumber mill lived
Tom Thomson at Tea Lake Dam, Algonquin Park,
1916. To earn needed money, Thomson
sometimes worked as a guide or fire ranger in
Algonquin Park. He became as familiar with
logging scenes as with nature in the park and
painted them both
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