Thomas John Thomson was a Canadian artist active in the early 20th century. During his short career he produced roughly 400 oil sketches on small wood panels along with around 50 larger works on canvas. His works consist almost entirely of landscapes depicting trees, skies, lakes, and rivers. Thomson’s accidental death at 39 by drowning came shortly before the founding of the Group of Seven.
About Tom Thomson in brief
Thomas John Thomson was a Canadian artist active in the early 20th century. During his short career he produced roughly 400 oil sketches on small wood panels along with around 50 larger works on canvas. His works consist almost entirely of landscapes depicting trees, skies, lakes, and rivers. His paintings use broad brush strokes and a liberal application of paint to capture the beauty and colour of the Ontario landscape. Thomson’s accidental death at 39 by drowning came shortly before the founding of the Group of Seven and is seen as a tragedy for Canadian art. His later work has had a great influence on Canadian art—paintings such as The Jack Pine and The West Wind have taken a prominent place in the culture of Canada and are some of the country’s most iconic works. The circumstances of his drowning on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park, linked with his image as a master canoeist, led to unsubstantiated but persistent rumours that he had been murdered or committed suicide. Although he died before the formal establishment of the group, Thomson is often considered an unofficial member. His art is typically exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg and the Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound. Thomson was born on August 5, 1877, in Claremont, Ontario, the sixth of John and Margaret Thomson’s ten children. He worked several jobs before attending a business college, eventually developing skills in penmanship and copperplate writing. He was an excellent swimmer and fisherman, inheriting his passion for the latter from his grandfather and father.
Thomson developed a reputation during his lifetime as a veritable outdoorsman, talented in both fishing and canoeing, although his skills in the latter have been contested. He tried to enlist for the Second War, but was turned down because of a medical condition but was denied all but three times, each time in all but one case. His sister Margaret later recounted that they collected specimens on long walks with Dr. William Brodie, his grandmother’s first cousin. Thomson and his siblings enjoyed both drawing and painting, although he did not immediately display any major talents. His sisters later said that they were not necessarily adept at capturing people’s likeness. Each of Thomson’s nine siblings received an inheritance of USD 2000 in 1898 but seems to have spent it quickly as it was an inheritance from their paternal grandfather who had had an iron shop apprenticeship. In 1901, Thomson enrolled at Canada College in Chatham, Ontario but left eight months later after being found by a close friend of his father, William Kennedy, to work as a machine shop apprentice. In 1899, he volunteered to fight in the Second Boer War, and was denied each time but was later found by Boer Boer officer William Kennedy to work in ornamental bookkeeping and penmanship. In May 1912, he visited Algonquin Park for the first time. He became enraptured with the area and repeatedly returned, typically spending his winters in Toronto and the rest of the year in the Park.
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This page is based on the article Tom Thomson published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 30, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
