Tom Thomson’s Studio Building "Afternoon: Algonquin Park", 1914.

The plein air sketch and studio painting "In Algonquin Park"

The backdrop for the development of this painting was World War One which had started on July 28th,  1914 and would persist until November 11th, 1918 - more than a year after Thomson passed. Tom probably completed the sketch for this painting in late April of 1914 while staying at Camp Mowat. June and July were spent at MacCallum’s cottage on Go-Home Bay, Georgian Bay. Tom would spend the fall of 1914 in Algonquin with his co-workers and artist friends who would later form the nucleus of the Group of Seven. Tom left for Toronto on November 18th. Talk of the war would have clouded most conversations during that summer and fall. 

Jackson enlisted in June 1915
in the 60th Infantry Battalion,
Canadian Expeditionary Force

A.Y. Jackson, Thomson's partner in Studio 1 moved back to Montreal at the end of 1914 arranging to sublet his Studio Building space to Franklin Carmichael. Dr. MaCallum's year of support for both Jackson and Thomson was about to run out. 

This required Thomson to temporarily share Studio 1 with Franklin Carmichael starting in December 1914. When Carmichael married and left a few months later, Thomson could not afford the $22 monthly studio rental fee.  My Thomson friend believes that "Tom Thomson moved into "The Shack" in early 1915". "In Algonquin Park" would have been one of his last paintings completed in the Studio Building. The other future Group of Seven artists were certainly around for artistic suggestions and that influence shows in his brush strokes. 

A more important reason for Thomson to shift his operations to "The Shack" was that he had never really enjoyed working in the city. Tom felt that the Studio Building was "pretentious," and wanted to work in an environment closer to his natural wilderness settings. His obvious talent was an inspiration to the other artists, and they were unwilling to see their friend leave. MacCallum spent $176 (a considerable sum in those days and worth $2,467.68 in 2023) to refurbish the workmen's shed on the east side of the Studio Building. Tom rented the shack for $1 a month and would create some of his finest works there. It is certainly wonderful to have supportive friends but sometimes it is best to follow a more solitary, artistic journey. 

The onset of World War One had started a chain of events that would significantly impact the art of Tom Thomson. Many of Thomson’s mentors became otherwise very occupied with the war and life in general. Tom would replace the more gregarious Studio Building with the relative solitude of  "The Shack". Solitary thought can be good for one's art and lead to places where no one has painted before. Being a hermit artist is not a bad thing and late 1914 was the important watershed moment for Thomson. You can’t go anywhere new if you are following someone else. This is a vital phrase that I attempt to live by. This is just my opinion of course but look what happened to Tom's art starting in the 1915. 

In Algonquin Park 
Oil on canvas 24 7/8 x 31 15/16 in. (63.2 x 81.1 cm) 

Now back to one of Tom's last paintings from the Studio Building... Meteorologically, the revised stratocumulus cloud was certainly more convective than it should be given the late afternoon time period over a snow surface. With a northwesterly flow in late winter, there is little chance for convective lake-effect clouds to reach the Algonquin Highlands.  This is for two reasons:

• Georgian Bay would be very cold and possibly frozen over and
• Westerly winds are required to bring active snowsqualls off Georgian Bay to Canoe Lake.

The cloud was still comprised of stratocumulus streets aligned with the wind in the Shack Studio painting. The lighting on the clouds was still consistent with the late afternoon exposure. However, the energy included within those rolls of stratocumulus had to come from somewhere else and in this case, Tom's creative, inspiration provided that more vigorous convection. 

PowerPoint Slide from Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman

Art historians have suggested that the sky may have been borrowed from a JEH MacDonald painting looking south over Toronto from High Park. Tom might have borrowed the texture and colours but Jim MacDonald was looking at very vigorous towering cumuli in his painting. These towering cumulus clouds were even capable of creating waterspouts. The people walking in High Park in MacDonald’s painting seemed unconcerned with the dangerous conditions just offshore. Maybe they were weather savvy enough to realize that the towering cumulus and water spouts could not possibly come onshore in that early season cold outbreak of frigid winter air. Note that there were still leaves on the trees so JEH MacDonald’s painting could have depicted the first cold Arctic air outbreak of the fall of 1914. These early-season events associated with frigid northwesterly winds are conducive for waterspouts.

It is very likely that MacDonald painted "The Edge of the Town, Winter Sunset" concurrent with Tom working on "In Algonquin Park" in late November 1914. Aside from the clouds, there are even some strong similarities in the handling of the snow and the shadows. The composition of both paintings is really quite similar right down to the snow line and the horizon. 

The Edge of the Town, Winter Sunset, Fall 1914
JEH MacDonald

Art historians have also suggested that Tom included his shadow in the middle right of the studio version of this painting. That could very well be the case. I have attempted to re-discover that reference but sadly failed. 

Afternoon: Algonquin Park, 1914;  In Algonquin Park

Perhaps the act of Tom goofing around and painting his shadow in the final work was recorded somewhere. There was no shadow at that location in the plein air painting. Artists should also have a sense of humour and just maybe this is an example of Tom’s funny bone.

My Thomson friend has the following, very astute observations regarding the sketch and the studio painting. 

" I think it (the studio painting) is good but to me it doesn't feel quite like Tom.  There is something too controlled and citified about it (perhaps too much influence from Macdonald's painting?).  That said, it is still a good painting, though I have never been fond of the foreground snow shadows - like long bony fingers creepily reaching out for ???  The contrast between bright foreground and dark background is suggestive of the ominous events of the war in Europe, which must have been preying on everyone's mind by that stage of the game. 

The sketch has such a different feeling - lighter and warmer and conveying the pleasure of sun on one's back and a lovely early spring day in the bush. 

Tom's 'shadow' on the snow - maybe a sly joke, maybe just an artifact of his changes to the composition of the scene.  Another thing we'll never know."

Tom proudly signed this Studio Building work completed between November 18th and early December 1914. It would have been helpful if he had named it.  Over the years, this work has enjoyed alternate titles including: 

• Afternoon, Algonquin Park;
• In Algonquin Park (Winter Afternoon);
• Snow Shadows, Algonquin Park;
• Winter, Canoe Lake Winter 1914–15

This work, depicted on Thomson's studio easel that he had built himself, managed to amplify the energy of that plein air work. This larger-is-better theory is often not successful. 

Thomson's spontaneous, plein air observations recorded on canvas board, plywood, and even cigar-box lids, carried an intimate interpretation of the nature he saw, felt and loved.  This portrayal of honest emotion is often lost in carefully constructed and executed studio compositions. 

On December 13, 1914, "In Algonquin Park" was exhibited as part of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Patriotic Fund Sale. The painting was purchased by another artist, Marion Long for $50 (about $1300 CDN in 2023).  There was no HST in those days.

It is a wonderful validation to have another artist appreciate and purchase the efforts of peers. "The Red Vineyard" is the only painting that Vincent Van Gogh is certain to have sold during his lifetime. Belgian artist Anna Boch purchased that painting for 400 francs at the "Les XX" exhibition in Brussels in March 1890 - four months before Vincent's death (actually a tragic homicide but that is another story). Even that sale was probably motivated by friendship as Anna Boch's brother Eugène Boch was a close buddy of Vincent. "The Red Vineyard" is currently hanging in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow. The initial 400 franc investment would be worth about $1360 CDN today. Of course, any original Van Gogh painting would attract an unimaginable amount today. Vincent's "Orchard with Cypresses" sold for $117.2 million USD at Christie's New York in 2022

Robert and Signe McMichael would acquire "In Algonquin Park" from Miss Long in 1966 in memory of Norman and Evelyn McMichael (Robert's parents). I am a close personal friend of the dentist for the McMichaels.  I have spent quite some time in front of this particular painting - one of Tom's finest works in my personal opinion of course. Of course, I am partial to what Tom painted when he moved to "The Shack". 

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.