Tom Thomson's Sunset and Shore, September 1916 TT-Post 118

DRAFT - Work in progress...

"Untitled (Sunset and Shore)"
Oil on wood
8.43 x 10.51 (21.4 x 26.7) cm
Tom's paint box size, 1916

Diana and Bob McElroy were the inspiration behind this post, based on Tom Thomson's "Sunset and Shore" painted around September 14th, 1916, at about 6:30 pm EST. Tom was standing very near N45.867196° W77.757537°, looking roughly toward 275 degrees (westerly) from the sandy and rocky point 150 feet west of the Out-Side-In. An autumn weather system was crossing Achray on the northwest shore of Grand Lake. A thunderstorm passed just to the north of the Out-Side-In the previous hour. Most of the weather would pass north of Achray while the cold frontal passage and subsequent clearing were only an hour away.

Boots on the ground are essential to understanding the true story. The explanation of how we can discover all of the above details more than 110 years after the event will follow.  The meteorology of this painting is beautiful, but that science has been explained before in several other posts. The interesting weather clearly written cloud-script is always intriguing. The fact that Thomson recorded the meteorological clues in his wild brushstrokes and colours is frankly phenomenal. Art can bring meaning to life, but of course, that is only my opinion.

The important background story can only be discovered in the details. The most important fact is the painting location, and that was accurately provided by Diana and Bob. Those specifics can only be found by going to the place where Thomson painted and witnessing those clues in person. That takes time and dedication, not to mention passion for the adventure. 

Diana and Bob are in the same league of art explorers as my friends Jim and Sue Waddington. I touched on their story in "The McElroys to the rescue - Tom Thomson's Petawawa Gorges; Night 1916" along with several other posts. The combined efforts of these teams are required to really appreciate the magic that was Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven. 

The painting location for "Sunset and Shore" was determined to within a few feet. The photographic evidence accumulated by Diana and Bob is irrefutable. They even investigated the Algonquin Parks archive to historically substantiate their findings and to place the results within the context that was also Thomson's. 

My friends at the Algonquin Park Archives and Collections (APPAC x2024.4.1) have shared their photographs of the V.B. Gray 1925 canoe and fishing expedition in Algonquin Park between May 21 and June 1, 1925. That shore of Grand Lake has changed much since then. The following image shows the canoes on the sandy beach with considerable forest debris higher above the water's edge. Those stumps would have been floated to their location at times of higher water levels. The lake levels were controlled by a dam at the outlet of Grand Lake to facilitate the movement of logs downstream. The spring "flood" might have already been released to flush the 1924 harvest down to market. 

The following post will rely mainly on graphics and pictures to tell the story. That will save a lot of words and maybe even make the tale more interesting. 

The graphic below links the landmarks in Thomson's painting to features in the 1925 Algonquin Archival photograph. 

Another archival image reveals the distant hills in the right portion of Thomson's painting. Tom carefully matched the characteristic shape of each hill! You might need assistance to see the referenced hills! That is a fine catch of trout. I have never had a stringer of fish to match that. 

The following graphic clarifies those distant hills and a few more details in both the archival photo and Tom's painting. 

A century of forest recovery can mask the landscape that Thomson painted in 1916. The trees can easily disguise the features that Tom witnessed. The 2026 trees had thickened enough to block out any "sky holes" within the forest canopy. 

That portion of the Grand Lake has changed much since 2025. The following graphic overlays Tom's "Sunset and Shore" and the V.B. Gray 1925 image with the August 2nd, 2025 Airbus image from Google Earth. The permanent part of the modern dock (i.e. the 'peninsula' of fill and gravel) may have affected the current in the lake.  It flows from roughly northwest to southeast. 

As Diana mused, "I think it probably still carries some sand along the lake.  The dock would create a gentle eddy, which might have caused additional deposit of sand in the 'bay' created.  The prevailing wind could have added to the effect as well."

The conclusion with the estimate of the position of the 1925 shore and how that has changed in the last century reveals Tom's "Sunset and Shore" painting location as being only 150 feet from the location of the historic "Out-Side-In. The top-down view provides a better lay-of-the-land perspective. 

Diana and Bob McElroy's meticulous investigations on several trips to Achray revealed the exact painting location for Tom Thomson's "Sunset and Shore". The location alone would have been sufficient to establish the 1916 date for this work. The year was also included on the edge of the panel where the painting slid in and out of Tom's paint box. Tom only painted around Achray in 1916 when he was employed as a fire ranger. His art was insufficient to make a living, so he had to accept other employment. Vincent Van Gogh, the Dutch "Thomson", also experienced similar experiences. 

Now this is where meteorology and science can be confidently applied with exact knowledge of place and direction of view. 

Altocumulus castellanus cloud is characteristic of mid-level air mass instability. The favoured location for these clouds and the swells is with the cyclonic companion of the warm conveyor belt of a weather system. These details are included in a top-down view of a typical mid-latitude weather system. The jet stream provides the energy to fuel and steer the storm. The jet stream also carves the "dry slot" into the back edge of the associated "comma cloud pattern". 

The lack of wind-gravity waves within the swells further substantiates the above conclusion. The following graphic depicts the portion of the weather system that Tom would have been viewing from his earthbound perspective - the green shaded trapezoid in the right portion of the graphic.  

The final bit of detective work is based purely on the sun! Only the bottoms of the clouds above Diana's “lone skinny dead tree at the right end of the point" are illuminated by the sun. Three very deliberate strokes of brighter, yellow oils were applied only to the bottoms of those altocumulus clouds stretching along the deformation zone. Thomson's powers of observation were remarkable, and his intentional inclusion of these details in his painting allows us to complete the Creative Scene Investigation. 

The sun had to be below the horizon. If one scales Tom's painting to the appropriate size to match the features in the Google Earth image provided by the Airbus, one can calculate that Tom's viewing angle to the sun was 275 degrees. From Tom's 1916 painting location of N45.867196 W77.757537, the sun is visible at that angle only on March 27, 1916 (Spring occurrence) or September 14, 1916 (Autumn occurrence). We know that Tom did not report for his fire ranging job until early May of 1916. The colours of the foliage in Tom's painting are also more characteristic of autumn. The conclusion is that Tom was painting at sunset around September 14th, 1916. Sunset on that date and at that location was at 6:22 pm EST. 

If we make allowances for "Artistic Licence" and permit the sun to actually be 2 degrees to the left or to the right of Diana's srawny dead tree, the limits of the plein air painting can be set as:

Earliest September 13, 1916 with a sunset time: 6:28 PM EST to

Latest September 20, 1916 with a sunset time: 6:14 PM EST. 

I also asked my colleague Johnny Lade to have a look at this painting as if he were making a weather observation. Known to his students as "Johnny Met", he has a lifetime of experience observing the actual weather. Johnny nailed this observation since Thomson painted exactly what he saw. John was unaware of the time, location and any direction of view but observed: 

"Tom displayed a beautiful sunset in this painting. It is almost twilight time with the sun low on the horizon, allowing the colours of orange and red. Tstm (thunderstorm) west moving east. Ltgcg (lightning cloud to ground)."

These thoughts are consistent with all of the preceding remarks. Johnny's aviation phrasing brings back some fine memories. 

Thus, the CSI conclusion has been reached:

• Tom Thomson's "Sunset and Shore" was painted around September 14th, 1916 at about 6:30 pm EST. 
• Tom was looking toward 275 degrees (westerly) from the sandy/rocky point 150 feet west of the Out-Side-In on the Grand Lake shore of Achray, very near N45.867196° W77.757537°. 
• An autumn weather system was crossing Grand Lake, and a thunderstorm probably passed just to the north of the Out-Side-In. 
• The cold front and dry slot would soon reach Achray, followed by clearing and cooler temperatures.

"Untitled (Sunset and Shore)"
Oil on wood
8.43 x 10.51 (21.4 x 26.7) cm
Tom's paint box size, 1916

Tom was possibly alerted to the weather and the painting opportunity by the thunderstorm passing just to the north of Achray. Viewing the colours in the sunset sky would have been enough impetus for him to grab his plein air kit and head out to the point to paint. Tom's painting included again above is full of colour and excitement!

I remain amazed and gratified by the considerable amount of dedicated effort and investigation into the art of Tom Thomson. Many individuals like Diana and Bob McElroy, with broad ranges of expertise and experience, contribute unique insights into the art of Thomson. It would be a pity not to share this information with the larger art community. The art of Tom Thomson still helps to define the social fabric of Canada. We are all in this together, attempting to learn each day. 

Harris and MacDonald, pictured below, did their very best to catalogue the art of their friend. Unfortunately, due to World War One, they were unable to accompany him for many of the works they were attempting to document from Thomson's Shack in the spring of 1918. Those bold panels were all very "cold cases," at least a couple of years old to Harris and MacDonald. They were assigning titles, dates, locations, and other information as best they could. MacDonald had never been to Algonquin, which made the effort especially challenging. Viewing Thomson's final sketches would have been emotional for his friends, who were certainly still grieving his loss. 

The details of any Inscriptions and the Provenance for Thomson's "Sunset and Shore" are limited compared to Thomson's other paintings. Dr. MacCallum, Thomson's main patron, acquired this work, but the exact details are unknown. 

• Artist: Tom Thomson 
• Title: Untitled (Sunset and Shore)
• Date: 1916
• Materials: oil on wood
• Dimensions: 21.4 x 26.7 cm
• Credit line: Bequest of Dr. J.M. MacCallum, Toronto, 1944
• Accession number: 4707

"Untitled (Sunset and Shore)"

Dr. MacCallum did play an important role in preserving, placing, and promoting Thomson's art found in The Shack after Tom passed in July 1917. MacCallum sold 29 oil sketches to the National Gallery of Canada in 1918! Upon his passing in 1943, MacCallum bequeathed 85 additional works by Thomson to the National Gallery of Canada, with "Untitled (Sunset and Shore)" being included in that group. 

A 2018–19 National Gallery of Canada (NGC) report stated that approximately 53% of its collection had been digitized, while close to 30% of the works were available online for public viewing. "Untitled (Sunset and Shore)" only recently became available for viewing more than a century after Tom created it. 

That NGC report also described plans to improve digitization but acknowledged that "limited resources had slowed progress". I wonder what other Thomson weather depictions might become available when that digitization effort is completed. 

I would have enjoyed being able to view the entire surface of this Tom Thomson painting without the large acquisition sticker! There are good reasons for most decisions, but there must be a better way other than a big, bold, obscuring label.  

The label on the front also makes one wonder what is on the back! Tom was employed as a fire ranger that summer, so he was not prepared to be an artist. Tom often used both sides of his available painting surfaces that year. A notable example is a classic paint box wooden panel with "View from the Top of a Hill" on one side (left below) and "Yellow Sunset" on the other (right below). The investigations to untangle those brilliant works were challenging but revealed much about Thomson. 

As with other Thomson paintings, the name "Untitled (Sunset and Shore)" does not come close to describing the subject or the motivation for Tom's efforts. Thankfully, Harris and MacDonald did manage to correctly identify this as a sunset work! About a third of Thomson's colourful skies with "sunset" in their names are actually sunrises, as revealed in "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now".

One goal of these posts is to provide details about what might have been Tom's real motivation for picking up his brushes. Art historians have important expertise in attribution, provenance, materials, and the history of art. Those skills do not automatically give them the best knowledge of every aspect of a painting. Scientifically interpreting the details included in the brushstrokes and knowing the landscape in which it was painted are different kinds of expertise. The strongest scholarship draws on all potential sources of information. 

Independent researchers can bring knowledge that institutions lack. Formal qualifications provide valuable training, but they don't confer exclusive ownership of insight or discovery. Thoreau MacDonald (1901-1989), the son of JEH MacDonald of the Group of Seven, and also a friend of Tom, may have summed it up best when he wrote:

“Thomson’s work would be a fine study for some competent critic, but anyone attempting it should be familiar, not only with every phase of his work but with the country too, lakes, rivers, weather; have them in his bones … “

Passionate art sleuths like the McElroys and Waddingtons provide the boots on the ground and the paddles in the canoes required to sleuth the required information. Weather was a big motivation for Thomson, requiring meteorology and the associated sciences to fully comprehend his art. I can help with that...

"Sunset and Shore" as it would have
 appeared in Thomson's Paint Box

The stringer of large trout highlighted in the Algonquin Archival images symbolizes the bounty of nature still readily available in Thomson’s days. Nature held the promise of apparently unlimited wealth to be harvested for free in the waterways and forests. The stump with twisted roots on the Achray beach was a tombstone testament to the forests that had been clear-cut. Tom included it in his plein air painting simply because it was there. Clearly, such wholesale harvesting of nature was and is not sustainable. 

Tom Thomson was possibly an early environmentalist, seeing the beauty of the "bare and broken branch" and documenting the frenzied plundering of those precious natural resources.

The powerful and wealthy industrialists of that day did not comprehend where their deeds would lead just a century later.  Ironically, Francis Molina’s article Remarkable Weather of 1911: The Effect of the Combustion of Coal on the Climate — What Scientists Predict for the Future was published just a month before the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912. The Titanic was recklessly travelling at its maximum service speed of 22 knots despite receiving multiple warnings of icebergs in the area. Remarkable arrogance... or just ignorance? The Titanic might have enjoyed a long and useful career of service if only the captain had heeded the iceberg warnings that had been posted. I cover that story in #3034 "Fiddler's Elbow Wildfire Sunset".

Thomson’s art was only understood and appreciated by a very select few in his day. Ronald Pittaway's interview with Tom Thomson's Mowat Lodge friend, Daphne Crombie, on January 14th, 1977, included the following statement: 

“At that time, they were terribly criticized and it was said that these paintings were alright to hang in the kitchen.”

How the world has changed since then! How might that self-destructive course have been corrected if people only appreciated the nature of Tom's art and the environment?

I remain indebted to the McElroys for their guidance in navigating the story behind "Sunset and Shore".

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

Warmest regards, and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick, Tom Thomson Post TT-118

PS: Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now contains all of the entries to date. 

Tom Thomson's Approach to Plein Air

This "living reference" post will be updated as more information becomes available. It is a "work-in-progress" and should be considered as a draft while I locate images and facts that for now are just memories, somewhere, not sure where...  

Sketch or Pochade Box

The French word for "sketch" is "pochade". A pochade box is used for outdoor painting (en plein air), designed to be convenient and easy to transport while containing storage for paints, brushes, palettes, and other essentials.  Painting outside allows the artist to capture the essence of the landscape, with a focus on colour and atmosphere, with nothing between the inspiration and the eye.  

A well-designed box can be used as a portable easel as well as for storing unused and completed panels. Modern pochade boxes can be mounted on tripods so they can be employed like studio easels. 

Curators at the National Gallery of Canada believe that Thomson hand-crafted his own pochade box. Tom probably copied the design from the one that his friend A. Y. Jackson used. Dr. James MacCallum, Tom's patron, had introduced him to A. Y. Jackson in October 1913.

That pochade box was made to hold three of the 8 ½ x 10 ½ inch panels in slots in the lid, the “French Size”. The lid is deeper than the box, with the lower part being used as the palette. Paints, brushes and media would have been carried in another container. The use of this hard-to-clean "lid palette" explains the thick oils used in much of Thomson’s work. Tom's greys were unique and composed of many drying oils salvaged from the palette. Half-dry paint draws the oil medium from the fresh paint squeezed out above.

 A. Y. Jackson recalled that in the fall of 1914, Thomson threw his pochade box into the woods out of frustration. Jackson retrieved and repaired the box along with Thomson's self-doubts. 

Posture

Tom Thomson apparently preferred to sit while painting en plein air. His older brother George employed a field easel and did most of his plein are painting standing. 

Tom's pochade box did not have a method to support it from a tripod. The box was positioned conveniently on his lap, thus requiring Tom to sit. 

Arthur Lismer did a painting of Tom Thomson in 1914. It shows Thomson squatting on a rock while painting. My friend Geoff Taylor, the author of "Tom Thomson's Last Bonfire"  has completed some research and feels that "it is likely from the second trip Lismer made to Algonquin in that year (the same trip it is said he so influenced TT's painting style)." 

Lismer 1914 Sketch of Tom Thomson
 sitting on the ground while plein air painting.
What painting did Tom complete?

My Thomson friend Diana McElroy notes: 

"Although I have seen Lismer's sketch of TT painting many times, I don't think I had ever noticed how intently Tom is looking at the scene before him.  Despite the lack of specific detail, one can still make out the gaze of someone who is 100% focused on the scene before him.  Anyone who has observed artists facing a real-life subject of any kind, in any situation, would recognize that look."

More to come.

Plein Air Panels 

"Boathouse" as it would have
appeared in Tom's pochade box.

Tom preferred the French size 8.5 x 10.5 inch panels, the Goldilocks dimensions for plein air painting, not too big, not too small, just right. The artist does not need to pack a lot of oils. You don’t require or have much time to capture the moment of inspiration. The idea can be laid down in minutes with bold and colourful strokes. Often, that is all that the weather, lighting, inspiration and biting bugs allow. 

Thomson's rough cut panels from the lumber mill measured 8.5 x 10.5 inches, more or less. That size was determined by the dimensions of his pochade box described above. The extra half inch in height and width allowed for the smearing along the edges that must occur when slid in and out of his pochade box. Tom's panels essentially provided a painting area of 8 x 10 inches, which is still a standard size for artwork and frames. Perhaps Tom planned to cut the smeared excess off if the painting was to be framed after the oils cured? An untrimmed 8.5 x 10.5 inch panel would require a more expensive custom frame, which is a downside of those dimensions.

To prepare Tom's panels, the long boards likely would have been first cut with the grain (Step 2 in the following graphic). Handling the long plank makes this cut more challenging to make exactly, and it defines the 8.5 inch height dimension of the panel. A fraction of an inch would not be significant to the mill workers, thus explaining the almost 9 inch height of the "Boathouse" panel.  

The width of the panels across the wood grain would be cut from the long boards. These cuts could be quite precise, especially if a blocking jig was employed (Step 3 in the graphic). The jig would be set just once at 10.5 inches between the edge of the saw blade and the blocking jig. Panels with the precise width could be quickly cut until the long board was used up. The exact width of the panel is more crucial to allow the panel to be easily slid in and out of the pochade box. 

Thomson's finished plein air panels were likely to be accurately 10.5 inches wide, oriented along the grain of the wood. The 8.5 inch height of the panel was more likely to show some variation. 

If Thomson used the panel in a landscape format, the longer dimension and the grain would be along the width as described in the Catalogue Raisonné for the  "Boathouse" panel.  The same panels were also employed in portrait formats where the height is the longer dimension. The orientation of the grain would align along the longer dimension as indicated by the double-headed arrow in the accompanying graphic. 

Tom Thomson and his artist friends, who would form the Group of Seven used panels made at the veneer mill at South River near the entrance to Algonquin Park.

Other Painting Surfaces

Thomson painted on whatever supports were available to him, especially when his supply of birch panels ran out. Thomson painted a lot on composite wood pulp (possibly bookbinder’s) board, which he either shellacked or varnished. Other supports include plywood, cedar, veneer, commercially prepared “Birchmore” board, artist’s canvas board, Winsor and Newton paperboard, as well as canvas or paper mounted on plywood. A few of the smallest paintings were done on pine or cedar from flour or orange crates. 

More to come as required.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

Tom Thomson's Boathouse, Summer 1916 TT-140

Sometimes it is best to start from scratch. Much has been guessed about Tom Thomson's "Boathouse" and a great deal of it is misleading conjecture. I refer the reader to the Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné for "Boathouse". It makes for interesting reading. 

As real estate agents often say, the three most important considerations are:

1. Location;
2. Location; and 
3. Location. 

Creative Scene Investigation is certainly made much simpler if the location of the inspiration can be accurately determined. My Thomson friends Diana and Bob McElroy have spent considerable time paddling in the wake of Tom's canoe and identifying the specific sites where he painted. They had already located a very good match for "View over a Lake, Autumn". That landscape reminded them of the terrain displayed in "Boathouse". 

"Boathouse" Summer 1916
Oil on birch panel mounted on plywood
8 13/16 x 10 1/2 in. (22.3 x 26.7 cm)
Tom's paint box size, 1916.85

In the spirit of true adventurers, Bob and Diana scheduled a trip to Grand Lake to confirm or deny those suspicions. Here are the results of those very recent investigations (early May 2025). The McElroys reaffirmed that Tom was painting from the slope in front of the Out-Side-Inn when he created "Boathouse"!

"Bob and I agreed that was indeed the location. The vegetation on the shore there has changed somewhat in the last 100+ years (and there is now a picnic table and supports for a volleyball net), so it’s not possible to match the foreground of the painting exactly. The skyline is altered a bit by tree growth, but it is still possible to see the hills overlapping as Tom saw them. "View over a Lake, Autumn" does not have the shore in the foreground, but the angle of the water’s edge in "Boathouse" matches what one sees from in front of the cabin. The other locations we had previously considered were not as good a match, since the near shoreline in all cases appeared parallel to the far shore. It also seems like a reasonable spot for a boathouse – i.e. right in front of a ranger cabin – though I haven’t seen any old photos that show it there. As usual, we will never know for sure."

A bit of terrain matching came up with the following comparisons. 

The clincher was the matching angle of the shoreline in both the photo and Tom's "Boathouse".

Further, Diana McElroy notes:

"There is little doubt that the date of this sketch was 1916, since, as far as is known, that is the only year Thomson was at Achray. The time of year certainly appears to be summer, due to the fresh green of the foliage and the low water level. It could be either July or early August"

It has been established from earlier Creative Scene Investigations that Tom spent the fire season of 1916 gainfully employed as a  Fire Ranger. Tom could not make a living from his art. He reported for duty at Achray on Grand Lake around May 1st and was in the area all summer.

As Tom noted in his October 4, 1916 letter sent from Basin Depot to his patron Dr. MacCallum:

"Have done very little sketching this summer as I find that the two jobs don’t fit in.  It would be great for two artists or whatever you call us but the natives can’t see what we paint for.  A photo would be great but the painted things are awuful [sic]."

In that same note, Tom tried to entice his patron to come to Achray the following week.

"Could you arrange to come up this week? You could get a train to Achray at Pembroke Sat. night at 7:30 or more likely 10 o'clock and be here somewhere about 12. The train leaves from Brent Sunday morning then the next one down is Wednesday morning but I could paddle you down to Pettawa [sic] from here any day you should want to go out."

That trip probably never happened, but no one knows for certain. Tom returned to Toronto later that October or early November. The factual bottom line is that Thomson was around Grand Lake and Achray in 1916. Knowing the location of the painting thus firmly establishes the date. 

Diana continues:

"Note the low water level also in ‘View over a Lake, Autumn’, which could also have been summer or perhaps very early autumn. In this sketch, the red colour is due to sunrise behind the viewer, not foliage.  The vegetation on the hill at the time was largely young deciduous trees (any suitable pines having been cut for lumber), and the large areas of green in the sketch show this. A comparison between these two sketches shows essentially identical patches on the large hill across the lake. Some light vertical streaks near the shore probably indicate birch or poplar trunks. The few conifers appear as dark green. This can be seen in the photograph from May 1925."

A comparison between these two sketches shows essentially identical patches on the large hill across the lake."  

 The present day vegetation (October 2014 photos below and May 2025 above) shows how the conifers have grown, particularly along the shore, but much of tree cover on the hill is deciduous, largely poplar and birch (both yellow in the fall) and patches of red oak (dark reddish brown). The hillside is a challenging environment for the growth of vegetation, being largely rock with patches of organic soil here and there. Most of the trees and other plants are species that can survive a dry environment. Bushwhacking to the top of the hill is not too difficult, since the bush is fairly sparse with some open patches.

The double-headed white arrow identifies the exposed rocky shoreline and is identical in both sketches. 

The conclusions from these observations are: 

Diana continues:

"It’s unfortunate that the image in the catalogue is cropped at the edges. I think it’s always interesting to see the messy strips at the sides where the panels slid into his sketchbox. The upper and lower edges are always of interest as well, as is the verso, but of course the latter is obscured by the extra plywood mounting.

 

The Boathouse panel is birch, 10.5 inches wide, with the grain running horizontally (as can be observed on the left and right edges of other panels from 1916). The main difference is the slightly larger vertical dimension [almost 9 inches versus the typial 8.5 inches of Tom's panels]. The original panel has been reinforced by plywood glued to the back, due to three horizontal cracks in the wood. Perhaps the cracks were due to moisture, or rough handling in transporting the panel, or maybe just weaknesses in the wood. It is not clear when the plywood was added.

With regard to the reference to the sketch of Mowat Lodge from a height (1914.46), there is no way this is a boathouse at Mowat Lodge. The hills in Boathouse don’t match the far shore of Canoe Lake.

Speculation that the panel size indicates that Thomson might have been running out of his usual size boards doesn’t seem likely. While his ‘standard’ size was "8.5 by 10.5”, many of his panels from 1916 vary slightly from these dimensions. It could be due to slight variations in the cutting of the boards by whatever mill he used to make the panels for him. However, in most cases the width of the panels would have fitted into his sketch box.

The reference to the much smaller panel [5x7 inches] used for Log Jam (1916.81) doesn’t seem relevant, as it appears to be an early spring scene rather than fall. The water flow in the log chute is high, as it would be in spring, and the tree colours – pale green or greenish white for poplars with leaves just emerging, and reddish purple for maples in flower – are also characteristic of spring."

"At the bottom of the Catalogue write-up is the following:

“Record last updated June 14, 2018. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.”

Note that I sent them an email in 2019 correcting their speculation about the date, location, season, and time of day. I have yet to receive a reply, nor has the text in the catalogue been updated."

I concur with all of the above, very thoughtful observations. Science (including Creative Scene Investigation) is the ongoing search for the truth. The facts are refined with knowledge and continued study. 

The speculative comments found in the Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné for "Boathouse" have been addressed, but I doubt if Tom cared if the size varied. For him, the panels were all about 8.5 x 10.5 inches, and he would not see the reason for measuring the panel size to the nearest millimetre. "Tom Thomson's Approach to Plein Air" is a background post that contains a section explaining possible reasons for the variations in his panels. 

Tom certainly could not have fathomed how valuable his sketches would become, fetching a maximum to date of $2,749,500 CAD for "Early Spring, Canoe Lake" at Heffel in Vancouver on November 26th, 2009. Recall that Tom used the sketches he was unhappy with as kindling for his evening bonfire. Oh my!

It is interesting to note that the official Catalogue Entry included above describes this painting as a square measuring 8.5 inches on each side. Errors are easily made but sometimes quite challenging to correct.

There are at least fourteen paintings in Thomson's portfolio that include "Early Spring" in their title. The Creative Scene Investigation (CSI) for "Early Spring, Canoe Lake" can be found here: https://chadwicknaturallycurious.blogspot.com/2023/07/tom-thomsons-early-spring-canoe-lake.html

The value of an original Thomson plein air painting might explain why they are now measured accurately to the nearest millimetre. Some artists, including myself, consider the size of the art when pricing. In Thomson's case, an 8.5 x 10.5 yields 89.25 square inches.  If you employ "Early Spring, Canoe Lake" as the standard, each square inch is valued at $30,807 CAD, making the measurements very important! A square millimetre of that Thomson sketch is worth $48 CAD, with more than 57 thousand of those to be found in each panel. Of course, serious art collectors are motivated by factors other than size. 

I remain amazed and gratified by the considerable amount of dedicated effort and investigation into the art of Tom Thomson. Countless individuals with broad ranges of expertise and experience contribute unique insights into the art of Thomson. It would be a pity not to share this information with the larger art community. The art of Tom Thomson still helps to define the social fabric of Canada. We are all in this together, attempting to learn each day. 

Harris and MacDonald, pictured below, did their very best to catalogue the art of their friend. Unfortunately, due to World War One, they were unable to accompany him for many of the works they documented from Thomson's Shack in the spring of 1918. Those bold panels were all very "cold cases" at least a couple of years old to Harris and MacDonald. They were assigning titles, dates, location and other information as best they could. MacDonald had never been to Algonquin, which made the effort especially challenging. Viewing Thomson's final sketches would have been emotional for his friends, who were likely still grieving from his loss. 

Thomson could have made the organization of his art much easier if he had just noted some specifics about each. The date, location and motivation behind each painting would have been enough to assign a meaningful title. Tom may have left very few words behind, but he did paint exactly what he saw, and perhaps that is enough. Tom did not make anything up and recorded the reality of what inspired him in his brush strokes. Sleuthing facts by applying science to his subjects is all we have to work with. 

The names applied to both of these paintings from Achray on Grand Lake are good examples of the dilemma faced by Tom's friends. Could "View over a Lake, Autumn" be any more generically bland? Perhaps "Boathouse" is even less revealing. The assigned names merely included the obvious, leaving the real motivation of Thomson to the imagination and open for investigation. For example, someone with detailed knowledge of the inspiration behind these panels might have selected "Summer Sunrise Across Grand Lake" or "Summer Morning at the Achray Ranger Boathouse" respectively. 

I select names for my art that tell the story of the motivation behind the painting. Additionally, the goal is to assign unique titles to each. Sometimes I fail at that effort with almost 3000 works in my portfolio. As a failsafe extra precaution, each work is also chronologically numbered. Additional information, like the time, date and location, is recorded on the back of each. Finally, interesting background information about the subject and the weather completes the story and is recorded in a file identified with the number of the painting. 

As an eternal student, I use art and science to continue to learn about nature. The associated numbered Word, PDF, and PowerPoint documents facilitate that effort for every painting. All of this information is available starting with my first documented work #0000 "The Glass Goat" completed in the summer of 1967. Recipe cards were initially employed to record the details. Computers greatly facilitated those efforts starting in the 1980s. Now, everything is interlinked using HTML. All 70 gigabytes of data (so far) is further backed up on my home computer. For better or worse, there is no need for anyone to conjecture about my art. I feel that the background stories can be as interesting as the brushstrokes. 

"Boathouse" as it would have
appeared in Tom's pochade box.

Inscription verso: 

• l.l. and u.r., Thomson estate stamps; 
• u.l., on frame, blue label, Art Gallery of Toronto [on loan from Peggy Lownsbrough (née Waldie, sister of R.S. Waldie), "for examination by David Brooke," 1966; 
• l.m., label (bottom part of), Laing Galleries, Toronto

Provenance:

• Estate of the artist 
• Laing Galleries, Toronto, Ontario 
• Robert Stanley & Mary Margaret (Meta) Waldie (née Gibson), Toronto, Ontario, 1966 (by descent) 
• Robert Gordon Waldie, Toronto, Ontario (by descent) 
• Private collection.

The analysis and diagnosis of "Boathouse" would have been quite impossible without the inquisitive investigations of my Thomson friends Diana and Bob McElroy. Additionally, their expert analysis of "View over a Lake, Autumn" contributed significantly to the solution of this painting. Along with Canadian society, I remain forever indebted. I would think that Tom Thomson would also be appreciative. 

The details on what happened to the boathouse within the nine years since Tom spent time on the Grand Lake shore are unknown. Fire? Ice? Waves? The investigation continues with the assistance of my Thomson friends and the kind folks at the Algonquin Provincial Park Archives & Collections.

As with all of the posts that comprise "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman", continuing investigations might discover new information that requires revisions to this current version of our best estimate of the truth. That is the nature of science. We are all eternal students spending our days learning...

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick, Tom Thomson Post TT-140

PS: Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now contains all of the entries to date. 

PSS: Should you wish to have Creative Scene Investigation applied to one of Thomson's works that I have not yet included in this Blog, please let me know. It may already be completed but not yet posted. In any event, I will move your request to the top of the list. If you made it this far, thanks for reading! 

Tom Thomson and the 1915 May Two-Four Weekend

Something very rare happened on the "May Two-Four Weekend" in 1915. A volcano that had been sleeping for about 27,000 years suddenly woke up at about 4:00 pm Saturday afternoon. Lassen Peak in northern California produced a violent explosion that ejected rock and pumice high into the atmosphere. This explosion was the most powerful in a series of eruptions from 1914 through 1917.

On May 22, 1915, an explosive eruption at Lassen Peak, California, the southernmost active volcano in the Cascade Range, devastated nearby areas and rained volcanic ash as far away as 300 km to the east. 

Tom Thomson was staying at Mowat Lodge on Canoe Lake, busy painting before the black flies emerged and waiting for guiding and fishing to occupy his time. Tom would have been oblivious to how a faraway volcano might influence his choice of pigments. Thankfully, Tom painted what he saw.  

World War One, the so-called first "Great War" was still raging in Europe. Tom's artist friends had dispersed to participate in that conflict in one way or another. Sadly, they were unable to accompany him on his last artistic adventures which ended prematurely with his death in July of 1917. On the positive side, Thomson was finding his own, unique artist voice and creating magnificent work.

Three years later, in the spring of 1918 Lawren Harris and J.E.H. MacDonald faced a virtually impossible task to sort through the two or three hundred panels that Tom had created in their absence. The undocumented panels were stacked high in Thomson's Shack. 

His friends attempted to sort through the paintings selecting what they felt were the best works to establish Tom's legacy. The Estate Stamp applied to the front and back of the panels would authenticate his art. Tom only signed the panels when asked to do so. He certainly never bothered to put names on his paintings. In fact, Tom rarely made any mention of the inspiration for his paintings leaving the art to speak for itself.  As a result, this was a gargantuan but essential task for his friends. Many of Tom's originals had already dispersed to the wind to anyone who took a passing appreciation for his brush strokes.  

The estate stamp typically in the lower right often resulted in some paint eventually flaking off. The panels salvaged from The Shack and organized in the Studio building all display the stamp.

Harris and MacDonald certainly were enthralled with Tom's art but had little or no first-hand knowledge of the story behind them. They had to rely on their own devices to create plausible titles based on the subject matter and possible locations. MacDonald had never been to Algonquin. Well-intentioned mistakes were made. These are easily forgiven. Those errors still remain in the Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné but there is hope!

Using science and topographical maps, we can correct those mistakes - something that I have been doing since the mid-1980s. As an example, it is interesting that more than a century later, we can trace Tom's movements on the Victoria Day weekend of 1915 using only his art and a volcanic eruption in California. Please let me explain. 

From detailed research into Tom's movements, we can be fairly certain that Tom was at Canoe Lake on the weekend of May 24th, 1915. Tom was likely staying at Mowat Lodge but occasionally ventured to his favourite haunt on Hayhurst Point less than a kilometre to the east. 

Thomson Travels 1915

• March 13 – April 10: Ontario Society of Artists Forty-third Annual Exhibition, Toronto. Thomson exhibits Northern River, Split Rock and Georgian Bay Pines. Northern River is bought by the National Gallery of Canada for $500. His address is given as Studio Building, Severn Street.
• Mid-March: Arrives in Algonquin Park, via Huntsville, where he stays at the home of Winifred Trainor for two days; he travels to Tea Lake and Big Cauchon Lake; in the Kearney area, he stays at McCann’s Halfway House.
• A.Y. Jackson had returned to Quebec, evidenced by a letter to his sister Kate, dated April 18th, 1915, which he sent from Emileville Quebec. In it, he discusses his intention to join the army. His attestation papers show that he enlisted on June 14, 1915.
• April 28 – May 19: Thomson and George Rowe guide the Johnston Brothers of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Pine River; they travel to Tea Lake. On their return, Thomson and Rowe travel to Big Bear Lake.
• May 24 Weekend...
• July 17: Assists H.A. Callighen in bringing tourists from Joe Lake Station to Smoke Lake by canoe.

A case can be made that links four of the 1915 paintings using colours, the volcano, the parade of weather across Canoe Lake and science.

I propose that these four sequential paintings recorded every sunrise and sunset at Canoe Lake starting on the evening of Saturday, May 22nd, 1915 - the day that Lassen Peak erupted. The potential paintings are included in above. Brief explanations follow. Detailed analysis and diagnosis of each painting can be found in the linked blogs.  Please ignore the official names of the artwork which identify them all as sunsets - two of the four were certainly sunrises. 

Sunset, Saturday May 22nd, 1915

On the late afternoon of Saturday, May 22nd, Thomson was visiting his favourite site on Hayhurst Point. He recorded the backlit clouds looking westerly at sunset in Painting 1.  A spring weather system was approaching. The details are explained in Tom Thomson's Sunset Sky, Summer 1915. Harris and MacDonald were correct in identifying this as a sunset. I feel they missed the mark by identifying the season as summer perhaps because the name "Sunset, Spring" had already been used in  Painting 2. Tom typically spent his summer guiding and fishing. He did not paint much in the summer because of pesky biting insects. The clouds are also not overly convective as one would expect in mid-summer.  

Sunrise, Sunday May 23rd, 1915

At dawn on Sunday, May 23rd, Tom was on the shore in front of Mowat Lodge looking easterly to observe strong sunrise colours in the backlit clouds. The unusual sunrise colours would have penetrated Tom's room on the second floor of Mowat Lodge. Tom must have been compelled to grab his oils and make a weather observation. For a detailed analysis see Tom Thomson's Sunset Sky, Spring 1915. The terrain features of the eastern shore of Canoe Lake as well as those recorded in other Thomson paintings confirm the easterly view. The clouds also confirm that Tom was observing the wake of a cold front. The weather system that had been approaching at sunset on Saturday had crossed Canoe Lake overnight probably bringing precipitation overnight. 

Harris and MacDonald would have incorrectly interpreted the strong colours as a sunset sky unaware that the higher level volcanic aerosols transported by the jet stream had already arrived over Canoe Lake.

Tome would have been interested in the strong colours exhibited in the sky all day Sunday. There could be other paintings to include in this sequence. We can be certain that Tom paddled over to his Hayhurst Point haunt to observe the vivid sunset colours looking west. 

Sunset, Sunday May 23rd, 1915

The details of the analysis and diagnosis can be found in Tom Thomson's "Sunset" 1915. Harris and MacDonald called Painting 3 "Sunset" from the summer of 1915. They were certainly correct about the sunset part but the season was spring right after the volcanic eruption. Matching the terrain features confirms that Tom was looking westerly across Canoe Lake. The jet stream had already delivered the next low-pressure system in the parade of weather. This time the strong winds also brought thicker concentrations of volcanic aerosols dramatically influencing the sunset colours. Tom painted exactly what he saw!

Finally, Tom awoke on Monday, May 24th, 1915 to a brilliant sunrise streaming in his window of Mowat Lodge. Terrain matching again confirms his easterly viewing angle. 

Sunrise, Monday May 24th, 1915

The weather system that arrived at sunset on Sunday had passed east of Mowat. Tom was observing the sunrise light scattered from the underside of the cirrus and altocumulus cloud found in the "hang back - comma head" of the storm. The details of the analysis are recorded in Tom Thomson's Sunset, Summer 1915. Harris and MacDonald miss-named Painting 4 as "Sunset, Summer 1915" reusing the same name as applied to Painting 3. Understandably, the unusual sunrise colours tricked them again. They were also running out of unique names to employ. 

Tom must have been aware that something very unusual was happening in the atmosphere. This lends some rationale for Tom to diligently observe the increasingly spectacular colours in a series of paintings. Paintings number 1 and 3 in the above series are the only actual sunsets looking westward. 

Painting 1 Saturday sunset left -Painting 2 Sunday sunset about 30 hours after the eruption right

Painting 1 was completed just a couple of hours after the eruption well before the arrival of the volcanic aerosols. Painting 3 was completed with the arrival of the first high concentration of volcanic aerosols. The initial concentrations of aerosols can be very high behind the deformation zone of the airflow that delivers those particulates. Tom must have been amazed at the vivid sunset colours!

Paintings 2 and 4 repeated below are truly sunrises looking eastward from Mowat. The colours increased in chroma between Sunday morning on the left and Monday morning on the right. 

The progression of cloud types and structures is consistent with two separate weather systems that crossed Canoe Lake over the May Victoria Day weekend. Rain likely fell both Saturday and Sunday nights. 

In any event, Sunday supper on the Queen Victoria Holiday weekend would have been memorable - not only because of the "fireworks" in the sky. Annie Fraser, Shannon's wife was well known for her fine meals and baking at Mowat Lodge. (Note: May 24, Queen Victoria's birthday, was declared a holiday by the Legislature of the Province of Canada in 1845. After Confederation, Queen Victoria's birthday was celebrated every year on May 24 unless that date was a Sunday, in which case a proclamation was issued providing for the celebration on May 25.) The Great War was still raging in Europe and patriotic feelings would have been high. 

           Tom Thomson circa 1905-1910                 

To really appreciate Tom Thomson, it is important to place his art within the context of the times in addition to the science and the weather. 

What motivated Tom to record these weather observations? Tom must have been shocked to see the colours of the sunrise reaching into his bedroom window. I can imagine Tom grabbing his paint box and rushing out to the shore of Canoe Lake to chase the sunrise light before it disappeared. Tom was also a morning person... let's get going with the sun. Rise and shine.

Tom would have been eagerly waiting for the display of colours that the sunsets would deliver. That is why artists paint... we all chase the light in amazement at the beauty of nature ... and the weather. 

Tom might not have understood all of the science and would certainly not have known that Lassen's Peak had just exploded - but he was truthful to what he saw. In that way, the science he recorded must also be accurate. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

PS: Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now contains all of the entries to date. 

PSS: If one searches Tom Thomson's Catalogue Raisonné  for "sunrise" only one painting shows up. If one searches for "sunset" 25 works are produced. Some of those sunsets are actually sunrises as we have demonstrated. Of course, it would have been helpful if Tom had left a few hints.