The landscape artist, Tom Thomson (aka Thomas John Thomson),
was born in Claremont, Ontario, Canada in August 1877. He was
the grandson of Thomas Thomson who had emigrated from
Aberdeen, Scotland in 1834.
In the
early 1900's he worked for various companies as an engraver.
In 1907 he met a number of painters who later banded together
as the "Group of Seven". Encouraged
by J. E. H. MacDonald and others, he began to paint seriously.
In 1912 he produced a series of small oil sketches in
Algonquin Provincial Park, a wilderness park established in
1893. His first large painting, Northern Lake, executed in
Toronto in 1912–13 on the basis of these sketches, was
acquired for the Ontario Government. Over the next four years
he spent a great deal of time in the Park, painting during all
seasons. He supported himself there by working as a fire
ranger and guide, working in Toronto during the winters. In
1914 he and A. Y. Jackson, who influenced him as a teacher,
shared a studio and painted together in Algonquin
Park.
Thomson disappeared
during a canoeing trip on Canoe Lake in the Park on July 8,
1917 and his body was discovered eight days later. The
official cause of death was accidental drowning, but there are
still questions about how he actually died.
Examples of Tom
Thomson's work:
For further information please click on the
following links:
