Thomson was also enthusiastic about sports, once breaking his toe while playing football.[8] He was an excellent swimmer and fisherman, inheriting his passion for the latter from his grandfather and father.[15] Like most of those in his community, he regularly attended church. Some stories say that he sketched in the hymn books during services and entertained his sisters with caricatures of their neighbours. His sisters later said that they had fun "guessing who they were", indicating that he was not necessarily adept at capturing people's likeness.[8]
Sketch 51.3 Crack
In 1908 or 1909, Thomson joined Grip Ltd., a firm in Toronto that specialized in design and lettering work.[note 4] Grip was the leading graphic-design company in the country and introduced Art Nouveau, metal engraving and the four-colour process to Canada.[35] Albert Robson, then the art director at Grip, recalled that Thomson's early work at the firm was mostly in lettering and decorative designs for booklets and labels.[36] He wrote that Thomson made friends slowly but eventually found similar interests to his coworkers.[37] Several of the employees at Grip had been members of the Toronto Art Students' League, a group of newspaper artists, illustrators and commercial artists active between 1886 and 1904.[38] The members sketched in parts of eastern Canada and published an annual calendar with illustrations depicting Canadian history and rural life.[39]
It was also at this time that Thomson acquired his first sketching equipment.[48][53] He did not yet take painting seriously. According to Jackson, Thomson did not think "his work would ever be taken seriously; in fact, he used to chuckle over the idea".[54] Instead, they spent most of their time fishing,[54] except for "a few notes, skylines and colour effects".[48]
Tom was never understood by lots of people, was very quiet, modest and, as a friend of mine spoke of him, a gentle soul. He cared nothing for social life, but with one or two companions on a sketching and fishing trip with his pipe and Hudson Bay tobacco going, he was a delightful companion. If a party or the boys got a little loud or rough Tom would get his sketching kit and wander off alone. At times he liked to be that way, wanted to be by himself commune [sic] with nature.[56]
Upon returning to Toronto, Jackson published an article about his and Thomson's experience in the Park in the Toronto Sunday World, included in which were several illustrations.[48] After this initial experience, Thomson and another colleague, William Broadhead, went on a two-month expedition, going up the Spanish River and into Mississagi Forest Reserve (today Mississagi Provincial Park).[56] Thomson's transition from commercial art towards his own original style of painting became apparent around this time.[57][58] Much of his artwork from this trip, mainly oil sketches and photographs, was lost during two canoe spills;[57] the first was on Green Lake in a rain squall and the second in a series of rapids.[59][note 5]
In October, MacDonald introduced Thomson to Dr. James MacCallum.[59] A frequent visitor to the Ontario Society of Artists' (OSA) exhibitions, MacCallum was admitted to the Arts and Letters Club in January 1912. There, he met artists such as John William Beatty, Arthur Heming, MacDonald and Harris.[59] MacCallum eventually persuaded Thomson to leave Rous and Mann and start a painting career.[47] In October 1913, MacCallum introduced Thomson to A. Y. Jackson, later a founder of the Group of Seven.[64] MacCallum recognized Thomson's and Jackson's talents and offered to cover their expenses for one year if they committed themselves to painting full time.[65][66] MacCallum and Jackson both encouraged Thomson to "take up painting seriously, [but] he showed no enthusiasm. The chances of earning a livelihood by it did not appear to him promising. He was sensitive and independent, and feared he might become an object of patronage."[64] MacCallum wrote that when he first saw Thomson's sketches, he recognized their "truthfulness, their feeling and their sympathy with the grim fascinating northland ... they made me feel that the North had gripped Thomson as it had gripped me since I was eleven when I first sailed and paddled through its silent places." He described Thomson's paintings as "dark, muddy in colour, tight and not wanting in technical defects".[67] After Thomson's death, MacCallum helped preserve and advocated for his work.[66]
Thomson often experienced self-doubt. A. Y. Jackson recalled that in the fall of 1914, Thomson threw his sketch box into the woods out of frustration,[80] and was "so shy he could hardly be induced to show his sketches".[43] Harris expressed similar sentiments, writing that Thomson "had no opinion of his own work", and would even throw burnt matches at his paintings.[81] Several of the canvases he sent to exhibitions remained unsigned.[note 7] If someone praised one of his sketches, he immediately gave it to them as a gift.[43] A turning point in his career came in 1914, when the National Gallery of Canada, under the directorship of Eric Brown, began to acquire his paintings. Although the money was not enough to live on, the recognition was unheard of for an unknown artist.[83]
Art historian Joan Murray noted that Thomson was at Go-Home Bay for the next two months, or at least until August 10 when he was seen again in Algonquin Park by Callighan.[94] According to Wadland, if this timeline is correct, it would require "an extraordinary canoeist ... The difficulty is augmented by the fact of stopping to sketch at intervals along the way."[93] Wadland suggested that Thomson may have travelled by train at some point and by steamship thereafter.[91] Addison and Harwood instead said that Thomson had found much of the inland "monotonously flat" and the rapids "ordinary".[95] Wadland found this characterization unhelpful, pointing out that the rapids Thomson had faced were hardly "ordinary".[93]
In 1916, Thomson left for Algonquin Park earlier than any previous year, evidenced by the many snow studies he produced at this time.[129] In April or early May, MacCallum, Harris and his cousin Chester Harris joined Thomson at Cauchon Lake for a canoe trip.[129][130] After MacCallum and Chester left, Harris and Thomson paddled together to Aura Lee Lake.[131] Thomson produced many sketches which varied in composition, although they all had vivid colour and thickly-applied paint.[130] MacCallum was present when he painted his Sketch for "The Jack Pine", writing that the tree fell over onto Thomson before the sketch was completed. He added that Harris thought the tree killed Thomson, "but he sprang up and continued painting".[129]
At the end of May, Thomson took a job as a fire ranger stationed at Achray on Grand Lake with Ed Godin. He followed the Booth Lumber Company's log drive down the Petawawa River to the north end of the park.[132] He found that fire ranging and painting did not mix well together,[133] writing, "[I] have done very little sketching this summer as the two jobs don't fit in ... When we are travelling two go together, one for canoe and the other the pack. And there's no place for a sketch outfit when your [sic] fire ranging. We are not fired yet but I am hoping to get put off right away."[134] He likely returned to Toronto in late October or early November.[133]
Thomson returned to Canoe Lake at the beginning of April, arriving early enough to paint the remaining snow and the ice breaking up on the surrounding lakes. He had little money but wrote that he could manage for about a year. On April 28, 1917, he received a guide's licence. Unlike previous years, he remained at Mowat with Lieutenant Crombine and his wife, Daphne. Thomson invited Daphne Crombie to select something from his spring sketches as a gift, and she selected Path Behind Mowat Lodge.[142]
Thomson was largely self-taught. His experiences as a graphic designer with Toronto's Grip Ltd. honed his draughtsmanship.[3] Although he began painting and drawing at an early age, it was only in 1912, when he was well into his thirties, that he began to paint seriously.[57][58] His first trips to Algonquin Park inspired him to follow the lead of fellow artists in producing oil sketches of natural scenes on small, rectangular panels for easy portability while travelling. Between 1912 and his death in 1917, Thomson produced hundreds of these small sketches, many of which are now considered works in their own right, and are mostly found in 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.[158]
Although the sketches were produced quickly, the canvases were developed over weeks or even months. Compared to the panels, they display an "inherent formality",[170] and lack much of the "energy, spontaneity, and immediacy" of the original sketches.[168] The transition from small to large required a reinvention or elaboration of the original details; by comparing sketches with their respective canvases, one can see the changes Thomson made in colour, detail and background textural patterns.[170][171] Although few of the larger paintings were sold during his lifetime, they formed the basis of posthumous exhibitions, including one at Wembley in London in 1924, that eventually brought his work to international attention.[172][173][174]
As was typical for painters of the early twentieth century, Thomson produced still lifes of flowers,[202] all of which appear in the form of sketches. His love of flowers may have developed from his father who, as a neighbour noted, had "a permanent half acre of a really good garden which was always worth going to see".[203] Thomson's time spent as a child collecting samples with his naturalist relative Dr. William Brodie may have similarly influenced him, though his interest in painting flowers seems to have been more focused on patterning and decoration than on the horticultural specifics of the subject.[204] 2ff7e9595c
Comments