Tom Thomson

Tom Thomson
Life & Work by David P. Silcox
In his early days in Toronto, Thomson also seems to have taken night classes from
William Cruikshank (1848–1922), a British artist well trained in the academic tradition
who taught painting at the Central Ontario School of Art and Industrial Design (later the
Ontario College of Art, now OCAD University). Although Thomson’s friends were later
critical of Cruikshank’s teaching, calling him a “cantankerous old snorter” among other
unflattering names, Thomson may have learned some useful techniques from him.
Around the beginning of 1909, Thomson
landed at Toronto’s leading commercial art and
engraving firm, Grip Limited, where he
specialized in design and lettering work. Albert
Robson (1882–1939), the art director, recalled
that when he hired Thomson, “his samples
consisted mostly of lettering and decorative
designs applied to booklet covers and some
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labels.” Grip produced the usual array of
posters for railways and hotels, mail-order
catalogues, and real estate brochures, but
Thomson’s life immediately began to change
because of the people he met there. The senior
artist was J.E.H. MacDonald (1873–1932), who
encouraged his staff to foster their talents by
painting outdoors in their spare time—in the city’s ravines and the nearby countryside.
Robson obviously appreciated artists, and he hired Thomson on a hunch. Over the next
three years he hired Arthur Lismer (1885–1969) and Fred Varley (1881–1969), both
fresh from England, and Franklin Carmichael (1890–1945). Through MacDonald,
Thomson met Lawren Harris (1885–1970) at the Arts and Letters Club, a convivial
meeting place and eatery for men interested in literature, theatre, architecture, and art.
At that point Thomson’s circle of friends and influences was almost complete: except for
Robson, these men were all future members of the Group of Seven.
When Robson moved to Grip’s main competitor, Rous and Mann Limited, in the
fall of 1912, most of his loyal staff, including Thomson, followed him. Inevitably they
found much of their work boring, but they appreciated the freedom Robson gave them to
take art classes or leave for extended painting trips during the summer. Very few
examples from Thomson’s years at Grip or Rous and Mann can be firmly attributed to
him, though the pieces that exist reveal some of the elements and decorative patterns
that marked his later paintings. One beautifully lettered and illustrated verse by Robert
Burns exists in at least three versions (c. 1906, 1907, and 1909). An untitled ink drawing
of a lakeshore scene from around 1913, like so many of his sketches, depicts a low
range of hills across the lake, with a few trees in the foreground.
William Cruikshank, Breaking a Road, 1894, oil on canvas, 93 x 175.6 cm, National Gallery of Canada,
Ottawa. Cruikshank was probably Thomson’s first and only art instructor
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