Tom Thomson

Recommendations

Info

Tom Thomson Life & Work by David P. Silcox and whites, all jumbled and mashed violently together, complete this statement of confusion and disorder. A case can be made that at this time Thomson’s preoccupation with the war manifested itself in a number of his paintings that depict the destruction and chaos caused by forest fires, flooding, and storms. He had tried to enlist for service but was rejected. Meanwhile, his friend A.Y. Jackson (1882–1974) had volunteered in Europe, where he also painted the battlefield, as in A Copse, Evening, 1918; and Lawren Harris (1885–1970) and Fred Varley (1881–1969) would follow. J.E.H. MacDonald (1873–1932) was designing patriotic war posters and other materials, and Arthur Lismer (1885– 1969), once he moved to Halifax, recorded the camouflaged convoy ships that transported fresh troops to the front lines in Europe. Tom Thomson, Burned Over Land, 1916, oil on wood panel, 21 x 26.7 cm, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario As Thomson spoke and argued about the war with people he knew in Algonquin Park, some of whom were considered German sympathizers, this preoccupation with the conflict overseas turned his often-melancholy mind toward the portrayal of scenes of destruction, mayhem, and death. He seemed to sense in the destroyed parts of Algonquin what was happening in France and Belgium. Thomson might have been at the front himself, given the bristling hostility and cruelty he depicts in this scene. All told, sixty-six thousand young Canadian men died fighting in the war: nearly everyone in the country had lost a relative or friend or knew someone who had. Thomson was keenly sensitive to this feeling, and he painted it powerfully in this moving, elegiac work. Approaching Snowstorm 1915 A.Y. Jackson, A Copse, Evening, 1918, oil on canvas, 86.9 x 112.2 cm, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa 32
Tom Thomson Life & Work by David P. Silcox Approaching Snowstorm 1915 Tom Thomson, Approaching Snowstorm, 1915 Oil on wood, 21.3 x 26.6 cm National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa A few months after Thomson painted this ominous panel, Lawren Harris (1885–1970) and Dr. James MacCallum observed him sketching a similar scene when they accompanied him to Algonquin Park in the early spring of 1916. In The Story of the Group of Seven, Harris recounts: 33
Page 1 and 2: 1 Tom Thomson Life & Work by David
Page 3 and 4: Tom Thomson Life & Work by David P.
Page 31: Tom Thomson Life & Work by David P.
Page 83 and 84:
Tom Thomson Life & Work by David P.
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127:
show all

Tom Thomson

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?