Tom Thomson's April in Algonquin Park Spring 1917

Tom Thomson was painting up a storm in that last spring of 1917. World War One was still raging in Europe but the fears of German saboteurs and Zeppelins even touched Algonquin Park (see "Tom Thomson's Clouds (The Zeppelins)". Tom's artist friends had dispersed with the war, work and families. Tom was unsupervised and forging his own artistic path within the relative sanctuary of Canoe Lake. Mowat Lodge and a very small circle of friends were his only touchstones. 

April in Algonquin Park Spring 1917
Oil on wood panel 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. (21.5 x 26.6 cm)
Tom's Paint Box Size

"April in Algonquin Park Spring 1917" is another of his paint box plein air works created in that frenzy of solitary creativity. It might look like just a copse of birch trees near a lake but the Creative Scene Investigation of this work was actually quite interesting. Surprisingly, the location and direction of Tom's view can be accurately sleuthed more than a century after the fact. The initial clues are in the accurately reproduced landforms. Note the diminishing intensity of the hues as those hills get ever more distant - Mie scattering. 

Tom did not venture far from Mowat Lodge in that final spring. There was too much ice to paddle the lake but not enough to walk on given the strong currents. The features recorded in his painting were readily comparable to the nearby geography. But there is more. Sometimes another painting from a nearby location can collaborate even more details in the first. 

Indeed, Tom was painting beside Lowery Dickson's Cabin! He might have even been visiting his friend Lowery as he painted... perhaps even a shot of something to facilitate the flow of the oils.  

The details of the colours, shadows and cumulus clouds as described in the above graphic further assist us in timing this observation. 

The following graphic assembles all of the CSI puzzle pieces. Tom was painting in the late afternoon beside Lowery Dickson's Cabin looking toward the northeast at the open water where Potter and Joe Creeks merge. A southerly wind added milder air to supplement the warmth felt on his back. The April temperatures were warm enough that his oils were in no danger of freezing. The snow was crunchy and not melting in the dry air mass. There were no biting bugs. The plein air conditions were perfect. 

This panel illustrates that Thomson painted exactly what he saw.. even including distractions that might not contribute to the composition… but perhaps adds some mystery. One might wonder why Tom included the large shadow that entered the lower left of his panel. The object casting that shadow was not included in the painting but I attributed it to Lowery Dickson's Shack. I am certain that the shadow was there in real life so Tom brushed it in. Perhaps there was an elephant watching him paint... One will never know. It is another mystery. 

Art historians often try to pigeonhole Thomson into the existing art movements of that day. The Impressionists of the late 1800s were giving way to Fauvism, Expressionism, Futurism, and Cubism in the first couple of decades of the Twentieth Century during Tom's explosive period of creativity. Art was being pushed toward the abstract in a world full of new science (Einstein's Relativity), music, ideas and war. Tom was certainly aware of  Art Nouveau from his work at the Grip. A.Y. Jackson and his friends who would form the Group of Seven in May 1920 were big into the impressionist movement but they were not on the scene in 1916 and 1917. Tom was on his own in the wilderness and perhaps his art was simply "naturally wild". 

Representative Art for the Major Art Movements 1900 to 1920
with Tom Thomson's Art in the Central Location in the Graphic

I do not believe Tom was a peg to be shoved into some branded, artistic slot. I find it more constructive to just examine what Thomson was doing as if he was in a vacuum. With the start of World War One and the departure of his artist friends and their influence, Tom was essentially alone in his Algonquin Park sanctuary with his canoe, tent and fishing rod. Tom was not following any movement. Tom was painting for the sheer joy of creation and perhaps making enough cash to scrape by and survive. 

During the brilliant last three years of his life, Tom was on his own, reclusive art adventure and blazing his own trail. You cannot go anywhere new if you are following someone else. Tom was charting his own wilderness adventure all by himself. 

Perhaps the question that really needs to be asked is: Did Tom Thomson go somewhere new with his art? Time is the test of all things and something of which a living artist has only a limited supply. Perhaps a century later, the answer has to be "yes" given that we still respect and remember him for the wild and exuberant style that he created especially in those last three years of his short life.

This is just my opinion of course. I remain focussed on the science but sometimes I just have to propose a personal observation. I am very sympathetic to Tom as I have been forging my own path as an artist since 1967. My sole goal is to continue to learn and get better - at both life and art. That is a very personal dream that allows me to remain sequestered like a hermit within my Singleton Sanctuary - surrounded by nature.  But I digress...

The weather forecast for the next day was going to be warmer and stormier. That's a good thing as Tom loved to observe and paint the weather. That same forecast also applied to his life. 

The probable sequence of weather events across Algonquin Park following 
"April in Algonquin Park Spring 1917". The jet stream was still a very strong
current of air back then directing a continuous parade of weather events
across the landscape. 

April in Algonquin Park as it would have appeared
in Tom Thomson's Paint Box in the spring of 1917

Inscription verso: 

• in ink, Donated by Geo. Thomson to the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery. March 16, 1964; 
• in graphite, painted by Tom Thomson 1917 / April in Algonquin Park / Owned by Geo. Thomson Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound (967.121) 

Provenance:

• Estate of the artist;
• George Thomson, New Haven, Connecticut and Owen Sound;
• Gift of George Thomson to the Grey County Historical and Art Society, 1964;
• Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound (967.121).;
• Transferred to the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, 1967

 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.