Tom Thomson's Sunset by Lake

Following a pattern established the previous year, Thomson headed to Algonquin Park in the spring of 1915 to paint and then fish - arriving in mid-March. He travelled by train via Huntsville, where he stayed at the home of Winifred Trainor for two days. Winnie had some walls that she needed painting and she knew just the right person for that job. Apparently, he also travelled "to Tea Lake and Big Cauchon Lake; in the Kearney area. He stayed at McCann’s Halfway House."

Tom's artist friend A.Y. Jackson had returned to Quebec before April 18th, 1915 and enlisted in the Canadian Army on June 14, 1915. Tom was painting all by himself and letting the oils fly! That is how an artist really finds themself creatively. 

Between April 28th and May 19th, 1915 "Thomson and George Rowe guided the Johnston Brothers of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Pine River; they travelled to Tea Lake. On their return, Thomson and Rowe travelled to Big Bear Lake."

On May 22nd, 1915 Lassen Peak in north central California erupted, causing brilliant sunrises and sunsets. A series of other paintings establish that Thomson was busy painting around Mowat Lodge and Canoe Lake when the volcano blew. See "Tom Thomson's Sunset Sky, Spring 1915" for details of four such paintings completed around May 22nd, 1915. 

This was the stage when "Sunset by Lake" was painted. The alternate title "Sunset Summer 1915" indicates it was painted in the summer but biting bugs and Tom did not get along so I wonder if this is actually a late spring creation in mid-April after the ice went out on Canoe Lake.

Sunset by Lake
Alternate title: Sunset Summer 1915
Oil on composite wood-pulp board
8 9/16 x 10 9/16 in. (21.8 x 26.9 cm) 
Tom's paint box size

Location is a significant part of Creative Scene Investigation. There are not any obvious clues as to the vantage for this plein air work except that I believe I paddled and painted there myself. Of course, I can't be certain but Tomson probably painted there as well later in 1915. The following graphic potentially locates the vista as looking southwest at a spring sunset into Whiskey Jack Bay.  

Tom might have painted "Black Spruce in Autumn" in October 1915 from very near the same location. There would have been a convenient spot to land his canoe and to paint from a stable platform on the shore. The exact location really does not matter as this painting is all about the sunset sky and the weather. That is my painting on the lower right of the above graphic from that same location. 

Tom was painting a sunset on that evening in 1915 - and it was spring! The sky was overcast but still brilliantly illuminated by the sun that was hinted at in the upper right corner - a circle of pure white glow. The angle to that setting sun from the entrance to Whiskey Jack Bay predicts that the sun would dip below the horizon at an angle of about 270 to 275 degrees from Thomson's location. That sunset occurs in April suggesting that this is not a summer painting. Tom preferred to fish in the summer anyway.

The surface of Whiskey Jack Bay did not reveal the wave action displayed prominently elsewhere. I quite agree as my Thomson friend observes:

"Given the location and direction of view, it's not hard to believe there might have still been some ice left in the little side bay of Whiskeyjack Bay.  It certainly can persist for quite a while in some spots sheltered from the wind, sun and current, and could be the reason for the calm surface in there."

Note as well that there was no "blue" anywhere in that sunset sky! In another 30 minutes, that sun would be behind the horizon. Even though the scene was strongly backlit, the sky was still bright.  The black spruce on the nearby point and the far shore of Whiskey Jack Bay were dark and in shadow and void of bright colour - except for the dramatic cobalt blue on the spruce! Tom was having fun with his favourite colour!

The cloud types were consistent with the warm conveyor belt of an approaching weather system. The leading deformation zone was already east of Canoe Lake and thin cirrostratus clouded the blue sky. The cirrus was optically thin so that the ice crystals could forward scatter the sunlight via Mie scattering to Tom's eye. The somewhat thicker altocumulus was slightly darker in the middle as would be expected with a backlit cloud. The longer wavelength red light still penetrated through the altocumulus thus tinting that cloud orange and pink. Note that the size of the convective cumulus elements was indicative of higher clouds that were within the mid-levels of the atmosphere. 

Only one Langmuir Streak paralleling the upper jet stream was included within the scene. Atmospheric swells in the altocumulus cloud were aligned perpendicular to those southwesterly jet stream winds. The trough of these swells were cloud-free suggesting that Tom was under the anticyclonic companion of the warm conveyor belt. There was no evidence of wind-driven gravity waves embedded within those swells thus locating Tom closer to the col in the deformation zone pattern. The following graphic summarizes the weather situation from the earth-bound perspective. 

The satellite view of the same weather situation is depicted below. Tom's likely position was under the anticyclonic companion of the warm conveyor belt and not far from the col. As well, Tom would have been looking southwestward at the Langmuir Streak located on the warm side of the upper jet stream. The troughs of atmospheric swells originating from far to the southwest are likely to be cloud-free within the anticyclonic companion. The cold conveyor belt (low-level blue arrow labelled CCB in the graphic) would be controlling the wind at the surface in this weather pattern. 

There was considerable wave action in Canoe Lake while the waters of Whiskey Jack Bay were calm! The lengthy easterly fetch across the northern basin of Canoe Lake would explain those waves. The significant wave action suggests that the approaching storm was strong and approaching slowly - a lot of weather was on the way and it would be wise to hunker down.  The meteorology that explains this deduction is described in some detail in "Weather Lessons for Everyone from the Cold Conveyor Belt Wizard". 

The reflection of the overhead clouds in the wave action appears to be a bit exaggerated. But I was not there so let's cut Tom some slack! He was having fun. Remember that Lassen Peak had not yet erupted (May 22nd, 1915) so these bright and unusual colours are not attributable to sulphur dioxide emissions from the volcano. 

The complete story of this painting actually started in 1914. Tom's patron, Dr. James MacCallum was a Go-Home Bay cottager. In the spring of 1914, he had invited Thomson on a camping trip up the rugged and spectacular French River and then to his cottage on West Wind Island. However, in a July 8, 1914 letter to his artist friend Fred Varley (sent from Go Home P. O., Georgian Bay, Ontario, c/o Dr. MacCallum), Tom wrote:

"I am leaving here about the end of the week and back to the woods for the summer. Am sorry I did not take your advice and stick to camping. This place is getting too much like north Rosedale to suit me — all birthday cakes and water ice etc. Will be over in Algonquin Park from about a week from today."

The numbers 2319 and 2329 locate just two of the dozens of paintings I have completed
around Parry Sound. This map shows the likely route for Tom to paddle to Rose Point
from his chance encounter with fellow canoeist, Ernest Freure. 

Paddling northward on his way to Algonquin Park, Tom encountered another canoeist, Ernest Freure, near Sans Souci. Thomson asked for directions to Rose Point but Freure invited him to stay the night on “his” island instead. That sojourn turned into five nights. Note that there is no record of Freure owning one of the 30,000 islands in the Parry Sound area. Who was going to complain if Ernest decided to adopt one - "squatting" on an unoccupied piece of land was common back then. 

Ernest Freure remembered Thomson's visit to "his" island:

"One day while we were together on my island, I was talking to Tom about my plans for cleaning up the dead wood and trees and I said I was going to cut down all the trees but he said, "No, don't do that, they are beautiful." 

Tom's estimate of a week to paddle back to Mowat Lodge via the long path through Lake Nipissing would have been very optimistic at best. Tom would not have known of his five-day delay on Freure's island when he wrote his letter to Varley. There must have been a good reason why Thomson asked his new canoeist friend how to navigate through the 30,000 islands of the world's largest freshwater archipelago to find Rose Point. That question might not have been about the camping at Rose Point but rather for the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway Station. 

Tom was presumed to have returned to Mowat by paddling up the eastern shore of Georgian Bay to the French River, up the river itself through Lake Nipissing, and into the northerly limits of Algonquin Park. Thence southward through the park to Canoe Lake and Mowat Lodge. A friend of mine from Parry Sound observed: 

"Easiest would have been to take the train from Rose Point Station which takes him across right to Algonquin Station. (JR Booth’s line that went from Depot Harbour to Ottawa)"

This is purely subjective speculation, but I believe that Tom planned on taking the train from Rose Point even as he was writing to Frederick Varley. A pleasant delay of five nights on Ernest Freure's island would still put him back at Mowat Lodge just a few days late on Sunday, July 19th. Tom and his canoe could have taken the train on the JR Booth Line in relative comfort.  We will never know for sure... Recall that Tom did not purchase his new Chestnut canoe and camping gear until late July 1915.

The Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway (OA&PS) operated from 1897 until 1959. In the early days, it was the busiest railway route in Canada. The JR Booth Line carried timber and wood products from Algonquin Park areas, as well as up to 40% of the grain traffic from the Canadian west from Depot Harbour at Parry Sound. Note the much longer distance of the canoe path up the eastern shore of Georgian Bay to North Bay on Lake Nipissing and south to Algonquin Park... a lot of paddling indeed. 

In appreciation for the visit, Thomson gave Freure this painting, "Sunset by Lake" in January 1917. Presumably Earnest would have found his way to Tom Thomson's Shack located south of the Studio Building at 25 Severn Street in the Rosedale ravine of Toronto. That shack as it appeared in 1915 is included in the graphic below along with a very interesting description by H.O. Hammond about his encounter with Tom Thomson..

Thomson's somewhat clumsy signature was a combination of chiselling his name in dry oils
and then brushing in some dark paint to emphasize the lettering. Tom certainly signed that
painting during Freure's visit to the Shack in 1917. Earnest might have even picked out his favourite
painting from the stack of panels that were stored in the Shack - awaiting the archival efforts of
Harris and MacDonald in the spring of 1918. 

Inscription recto: 

• l.r., TOM THOMSON (incised) 
• Inscription verso: (on original cardboard backing): Sunset / Presented to Ernest Freure / January 1917 / by Tom Thomson; 
• c., in red crayon, T. 52 / E. Frere; label (in red crayon), T.52, and in graphite, E. Frere Thomson Collection @ Art Gallery of Ontario 

Provenance:

• Gift of the artist to Ernest Freure, January 1917
• W. Allan Manford, Toronto, 1970 Private collection, 
• Toronto Thomson Collection @ Art Gallery of Ontario

And that is the story of Tom Thomson's "Sunset by Lake" - one of paddling, making new friends and of course trees and the weather. It is also a tale of a possible train ride back to Canoe Lake Station on the JR Booth line...

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: 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! There is a lot of science in this small panel and I wanted to cover most of it...