Tom Thomson’s Last Weather Observation

Tom Thomson disappeared at midday on Sunday, July 8th, 1917, but his art and influence on Canadian culture continue more than a century later.  I have an opinion about his passing, but I choose to focus instead on his life, art and science. This is the story of that final sketch, "After the Storm". This is also about a May supercell, and I thought I would post it a few days before the 105th anniversary of his death. 

After the Storm, Alternate title: Sketch in Green, Oil on wood
8 7/16 x 10 1/4 in. (21.5 x 26 cm)
Sold to Private Collector Nov 27, 2015 $1.1 million

Thomson's patron, Dr. James MacCallum, probably gave that name to Tom's final weather observation. He certainly influenced the alternate title.  Dr. MacCallum scrawled on the back of the panel, "This sketch was done by Tom Thomson in the late spring of the year in which / he was drowned. It is one of the few done in green. When the foliage had / come on [southly?] he usually gave up sketching and took to fishing / and canoeing until the fall color appeared. / J.M"

Tom wrote to MacCallum in a letter dated July 7, 1917 (the day before his disappearance): 

Mowat P. O., July 7, 1917

Dear Sir:

I am still around Frasers and have not done any sketching since the flies started. The weather has been wet and cold all spring and the flies and mosquitos much worse than I have seen them any year and the fly dope doesn’t have any effect on them. This however is the second warm day we have had this year and another day or so like this will finish them. Will send my winter sketches down in a day or two and have every intention of making some more but it has been almost impossible lately. [...] Have done some guiding this spring and will have some other trips this month and next with probably sketching in between. [...]

Yours truly

Tom Thomson

In the spring of 1917, Mark Robinson, Algonquin Park Ranger, recalled that his friend Tom Thomson told him that he had done a series of 62 sketches that spring. Tom had asked Mark if he might hang these works in the Ranger’s cabin in order to see them all together at one time. Thomson referred to these particular paintings as  “records” intending that the series would provide an observation of the unfolding of spring in Algonquin Park. Tom said to Mark:

“I have something unique in art that no other artist has ever attempted … I have a record of the weather for 62 days, rain or shine, or snow, dark or bright, I have a record of the day in a sketch.”

Evidently, even Tom himself admitted to being a weather enthusiast. The word “record” could be easily replaced by the modern meteorological equivalent terminology “observation”. Tom made a point of stressing that the weather was of prime importance in those 62 sketches.

There is more evidence, and it is overwhelming. Dr. James MacCallum, Tom’s benefactor and friend, said that Tom “never painted anything he had not seen.” Apparently Tom painted and saw lots of weather. J.E.H MacDonald's son, Thoreau, was just a boy when he hung around his father’s friend. Remembering those days spent with Tom, Thoreau said “some competent critic … should be familiar, not only with every phase of his work, but with the .. weather; have them in his bones … “. 

"After the Storm" Diagnosis from my PowerPoint Presentation

I wish to leave the final word on whether he was a “weatherman” to Tom himself. Tom didn’t leave behind many words. He communicated best with bold strokes, texture and colour in oil on small surfaces. Tom’s very last plein air sketch, unbeknownst of course to him at the time, was “After the Storm”. This sketch was completed before the Algonquin black flies emerged that year. They started biting on May 24th in 1917. Tom’s motivation to “record” this particular event was to observe the impacts of a severe supercell thunderstorm. It must have been a violent thunderstorm to catch Tom’s attention. Tom was looking eastward at the retreating flank of the thunderstorm after emerging from the shelter he would have had to take. 

Note the chaotic sky which reveals the turbulent wind. In Tom’s painting, it is difficult to be certain about wind direction, but the longest cloud edges appear to be rising from left to right, which would be consistent with a northwesterly wind in the wake of a convective storm. It was certainly windy at ground level, and this would have helped to keep all the insects down - especially the weakly flying mosquitoes that Tom mentioned. 

My presentation includes an image of the rear flank of an actual supercell. The diagnosis of that image is included in the accompanying graphic. 

Wind, heat and water are energy for thunderstorms, and this storm must have had a lot of power, thus encouraging Tom to record its aftermath. The La Niña event that developed in the spring of 1916 and lasted until the spring of 1918 was the 13th strongest of the ‘classic’ La Niña events. My meteorological research revealed that the La Niña phase of ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) was conducive for supercells over Ontario. This helps to explain their prevalence in the last year of Tom's art. 

Tom was looking eastward at the rear flank of the
supercell thunderstorm
with the emerging sun on his back. 

Most of Tom's sketches were weather observations. They were not even art to him and not worth signing. Tom did not sign "After the Storm". This is quite a contradiction at a time when Tom was just reaching his stride as an artist. That Tom was a weatherman should now be clear. He could have been a meteorologist except that vocation didn’t really exist in 1917. It would have been a great career choice for Tom. Meteorology certainly worked well for me starting in 1976. I am still teaching and researching weather and climate and making a positive difference. Life is good! 

You do not have to be a meteorologist to understand the art of Tom Thomson or his motivation to record what he did... but it does help. Admirers of Tom’s work must to be careful that they do not project their own vision and experiences on those of Tom’s. I am possibly as guilty of this as others who have been inspired by Tom but I tried to give the last word to Tom and the people who knew him personally. 

Persistence is an acceptable forecast technique. A weather forecast that the future weather will be the same as the current conditions is an example of persistence forecasting. Persistence works really well if nothing much changes. Forecasting a change is much more challenging and prone to errors. Many meteorologists forecast a change incorrectly many times until it happens – if in fact it does happen at all. In this situation, I would certainly apply persistence to estimate where Tom was headed with his art, and it was not abstraction. Tom himself said it best in his July 7, 1917 letter to his patron Dr. James MacCallum, posted a day before he died, 

“will send my winter sketches down in a day or two and have every intention of making some more”.

Tom was planning on painting more of what he saw... focusing on the weather. Nature and the weather might look like abstract art, but it is real - especially if you study nature and know what it is saying.

The Canadian art establishment opinion is that "After The Storm" is:

 "a pivotal oil that showcases Tom Thomson's evolution toward modern abstraction before his death."

Art historians note that when viewed up close, the landscape completely dissolves. The scrambled terrain melts into pure, thick strokes of raw pigment. Instead of standard horizontal landscape lines, Thomson was punching his colours onto the small board in frantic, multidirectional strokes. The fierce handling of the windswept sky and vivid green landscape hints that Thomson was independently moving toward Abstract Expressionism."

My natural tendency to challenge authority and to seek the truth from real data encourages me to develop the more plausible alternative. Thomson was inspired by nature, completing his best work attempting to record its rapidly changing nuances en plein air on small panels in oil. Tom painted what he saw and experienced with honesty. He had to paint very quickly to capture the rear flank downdraft of a departing supercell.  This painting was done in maybe 15 minutes...

It is a tragedy in Canadian art and Canadian society that Tom never got the chance “of making some more”. I wonder what he might have created, but I doubt very much that it would have been abstract. Art historians need to get out more and experience nature firsthand like Thomson. 

"After The Storm" was held in private collections for decades. The painting surfaced to the public, creating massive waves in the art world. It was sold at Heffel Fine Art Auction on November 26, 2015, for $1.1 million. Tom never saw a dime of that profit. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil the Forecaster Chadwick

PS: For the Blog Version of my Tom Thomson catalogue raisonné, Google Search Naturally Curious "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now" or follow this link “http://philtheforecaster.blogspot.com/2022/10/tom-thomson-was-weatherman-summary-as.html”