Tom Thomson's Artist's Camp, Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park

Aside from the stated justifications for these blogs as included in "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now", there are some personal reasons why considerable effort is put into turning the draft Thomson book into a Blog. I am obsessed with learning - mostly focussed on the "nature of things" (Thank you David Suzuki) but really, anything is fair game. This endeavour helps to keep my meteorology sharp… use it or lose it.

The Tom Thomson experts that I know are a wealth of knowledge - something that became more obvious when the concept of this "Artist's Camp" blog was germinating. The weather in this painting is a patch of stable altostratus. That cloud was important to Tom as he included it with some difficulty behind the screen of trees. There are a few possible explanations for why that front-lit cloud was there but I will only depict the most likely below. The really interesting information comes from my Thomson friends.

On one occasion when I presented in Algonquin Park, September 1st, 2017, the staff had Tom’s tent set up in the Visitors Centre. I took a bunch of pictures and recorded the story behind Tom’s tent for my notes. It was thrilling to see his actual tent. The "balloon silk" was no longer white but the provenance of the tent via  Tom's friend Ranger Thomas Wattie of South River is very convincing. 

Thomson's tent was certainly not displayed as Tom would have had it assembled at camp. There was limited space in the Visitor's Centre but I was still exhilarated to be so close to something that Tom prized. My Tomson friend noted the greenish, tan colour of the tent on display and how it was so very different from the tent that Tom painted. I thought it was just the age of the fabric but perhaps Tom might have followed the advice from Horace Kephart's book "Camping and Woodcraft" which is detailed below. Page 41 describes why and how to dye a white tent to make "the tent less attractive to flies, and renders it less conspicuous in the woods, which latter is worth considering in some localities where undesirable visitors may drop in." 

My friend Roy MacGregor wrote in his 2010 book "Northern Light" that Tom Wattie's son Gord (then in his nineties) was persuaded by his nephew Cooper "that the family should donate their Tom Thomson belongings to the Algonquin Park archives." See Roy's book starting on page 172 for more details but the tent, sleeping bag and other camping items were listed by Ron Tozer of Algonquin Park on August 19th, 1998. Almost no one knew about these items except for Thomson's friend Tom Wattie. 

After selling a few paintings (including  $500 from the sale of Northern River to the National Gallery in 1915) and with some money coming in, Tom went shopping in the summer of 1915. He did not have access to the materials we enjoy for lightweight canoe tripping a century later. Fibreglass, kevlar and especially carbon canoes were not even a dream back then. Tom's canoeing adventures were decades before LED lanterns, water purifying kits, and a multitude of inventions that modern trippers deem essential. After all, every item had to be carried across the portage and I doubt if even Tom thought that portaging was fun…Tom wanted light and state-of-the-art gear (for 1915 at least)!

In late July or early August, 1915 Tom bought his new 16-foot Chestnut Guide Cruiser canoe, silk tent and other essential camping supplies. Tom used a $2 tube of cobalt blue oils with a standard marine grey to make his canoe truly unique. The "dove grey” colour would stand out from all of the traditional red and green canoes used by the lodges.  

 

The above classic photo shows Tom Thomson with a full load in his dove grey canoe and white silk tent in the background. The large Duluth pack at the middle thwart is heavy enough even with nothing in it. Tom had a lot of other gear as well. His painting box and supplies must have been buried in there somewhere. His tent had not yet been dyed. There is a story behind this photo that shows an enthusiastic artist about to embark on a couple of very creative years with his new gear. In fact, there is certainly a photographer behind every photo but that story is seldom told. Who took Thomson's portrait and did he wade out into the shallow water to do so? 

Tom paddled out from Canoe Lake on a long trip that likely went to the Magnetawan River, coming out at South River around Labour Day. Thomson then joined J.E.H. MacDonald (1873–1932) at MacCallum’s cottage on Go Home Bay to measure the walls for a series of seven commissioned decorative panels. Tom then returned to the park, where he remained until the weather drove him back to Toronto at the end of November.

Given the autumn colours, this painting would have been painted in October or early November before his return to the big city - back then the big smoke of Hogtown was Toronto the Good before it became Hollywood North. 

Thomson painted at least four images of his beloved tent. The following graphic includes the other three paintings of his brand-new silk tent.

At this point, I asked one of my Thomson friends to weigh in:

"The Artist's Camp has such a nice feeling to it - it makes me feel that I'd like to be there... One vivid memory is lying awake in the middle of the night with a full moon casting shadows of leaves on the tent - lovely. I would guess that the most likely location for this sketch was Hayhurst Point. It clearly is fall, with the yellow leaves on the birches and a few red leaves on perhaps some maple saplings. To me the light looks like morning - I think the alternate title Night Camp is probably incorrect. In fact, I can't think what in the sketch suggests night."

"I still think it is most likely a morning scene.  It's easy to imagine Tom setting up his tent with the door facing east to enjoy the sunrise and morning light."

As explained in previous blogs, morning light is more likely to be pure white. After a day of wind and convection stirring up particles into the lower atmosphere, the afternoon light takes on a distinctly yellow tone. Rayleigh scattering of the blue component of white light out of the direct beam from the sun is responsible for this subtle transformation. People are generally, subconsciously in tune with such phenomena without thinking of it. 

Artist's Camp, Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park
Alternate title: Night Camp Fall 1915
Oil on wood panel 8 5/8 x 10 11/16 in. (21.9 x 27.2 cm)
Tom's Paint Box Size, Catalogue 1915.78

The trees also tell a tale, and my Thomson friend suggested several observations. 

The illumination of the tent face and the extreme left edge of the trees can be combined with the orientation of the elongated band of altostratus. The following geometry results with the morning sun on Tom's left shoulder looking at the arch of a swath of stable cloud. The altostratus was likely associated with the anticyclonic companion of an approaching warm conveyor belt. Tom was looking westward. The winds were probably light. It would have been a great day to paint outside with no biting bugs. 

Horace Kephart, 1862-1931

My Thomson friend, also an avid canoe tripper recalled an "excellent source for information on old-style camping in Horace Kephart's book "Camping and Woodcraft". The first book  "Camping and Woodcraft: a Guidebook for those who travel in the Wilderness" was first published in 1906. Tom might have owned a copy! Volumes One and Two were written in 1916 and 1917 and were combined in 1921 as the "Two Volumes in One" Edition. Horace Kephart's writings are certainly relevant to the period of interest concerning Tom Thomson.  The complete work is available free online. Further, my Thomson friend located "Chapter V, Tents for Shifting Camps".  

Horace wrote: "the most suitable material is very closely woven stuff made from Sea Island or Egyptian cotton... the standard grade of 'balloon silk' runs about ... 5 1/2 oz (per square yard) when waterproofed with parafine. This trade name, by the way, is an absurdity: the stuff has no thread of silk in it, and the only ballooning it ever does is when a wind gets under it." Horace had a wonderful sense of humour as well. 

Balloon silk was tightly woven and would shed the rain unless touched from the inside. Thankfully, modern tents have largely eliminated that problem!

As my Thomson friend also noted: 

"Kephart talks a lot about outfitting for groups, but also more individual efforts, and includes contemporary information about everything related to camping and getting along in the woods.  Interesting to read in 2024, and gives us a good idea about how things were more than 100 years ago.  I think there is a lot that can give us some idea of Tom's equipment, food and camping experience..."

 

Thomson took this photograph of his prized "silk" tent and the catch of the day. A stark photograph of a white tent does not tell the story of Tom's tent nearly as well as his painting. The picture shows the ballooning effect of the wind on the very closely woven fabric of the tent. 

Tom had pitched his tent properly for this image with the ridge pole on the inside. Tom did not have the side poles to hold the side walls out but had set guy lines and pegs. 

Artist's Camp, Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park

But first, before Tom could camp in the woods and be away from the bustle of the big city, he had to make a living. The following interview with "Leonard Rossell, Reminiscences of Grip, members of the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson" provides a wonderful background to Tom Thomson.

Grip was a commercial design firm Thomson worked at in Toronto. Tom Thomson is in the front right of the above photo. J. E. H. Macdonald is in the background, at the end of the row. A. H. Robson is likely the man seated on the left side of the image. Tom looks like a man who would rather be elsewhere.. almost anywhere else would be just fine.

This link is to the entire interview with Leonard Rossell but the following quote sums Tom up nicely: 

"At the office we had great arguments on the relative value of tents, fishing tackle, etc.; on anything to do with camping and woodcraft Tom was a master. He could pack his camping equipment, paints, etc. etc. into the smallest compass. He knew all about the best rods and flies for fishing. Indeed he eked out his small supply of cash by acting as guide up in the wilds of Algonquin. That he was an expert canoeist goes without saying. While the mosquitoes were singing outside his silken tent he would be painting some mood of nature from the inside."

Artist's Camp, Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park

This is another one of those panels from the stack of Thomson's paintings retrieved from the Shack.  Lawren Harris and J.E.H. MacDonald had taken on a formidable task in the spring of 1918. In this case, the application of the Estate Stamp on "Artist's Camp, Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park" did not cause much damage to the lower right of the panel. This time, these gentlemen selected the perfect name for one of Tom's paintings. 

Inscription recto: 

• 
  l.r., estate stamp 

Inscription verso: 

• l.l., estate stamp; 
• label, Laing Galleries, Toronto; 
• sketch of deer Thomson Collection @ Art Gallery of Ontario 

Provenance: 

• Estate of artist 
• George Thomson, New Haven, Connecticut and Owen Sound, Ontario 
• Laing Galleries, Toronto 
• Father of J.S.D. Tory, 1951 
• J.S.D. Tory, Toronto 
• Montreal Trust Company, Executor of Estate of J.S.D. 
• Tory Private Collection, 
• Toronto Thomson Collection @ Art Gallery of Ontario

This painting went to Tom's older brother George - certainly as one of George's allotment. Each of Tom's siblings received at least ten paintings. 

The mythology of Thomson has grown around the man in the last century. Roy MacGregor wrote the following on page 172 of  his book "Northern Light":

"The Wattie family has its own lore about Thomson. They joked about how he had, over time, become revered as an expert outdoorsman. 'He was not an expert canoeist,' says Copper. ' He hadn't even seen a canoe until he got to the park.' But Thomson was game and generous, and Wattie took him under his wing..."

Thomson was indeed game and he wanted to learn. That opportunity is available to everyone (as it was detailed at the start of this blog). Thomson's story is similar to the lyrics of "Rocky Mountain High".  John Denver  (1943-1997) had moved to Aspen, Colorado in 1969 and he wrote the truth about his inspiration with his guitarist Mike Taylor. The song was released in September 1972. 

"He was born in the summer of his 27th year

Coming home to a place he'd never been before

He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again

You might say he found a key for every door..."

Thomson arrived in Algonquin Park in May of 1912. He was 34 years old with less than five years of serious painting ahead of him. Tom was a solitary painter during the last three years… and he blazed his own trail. You can’t go anywhere new by following the herd.

I am greatly indebted to my Thomson friend for the valuable insights and suggestions included in this post! It was a banner week and there were many things to be learned. The story behind the art can be just as illuminating as the brush strokes.  Thank you!

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 needs to be 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...

PSS: Tom Thomson had a close friendship with Tom Wattie, the Park Ranger stationed on North Tea Lake. They first met in 1913 when Thomson paddled north through the Algonquin lake chains. Wattie and his family lived in South River, but owned a small cabin (camp) on an island on Round (Kawawaymog) Lake, at the western edge of the park. In the fall of 1915, Tom Thomson, Tom Wattie and local South River doctor, Dr. Robert McComb, spent several days at the camp. While Wattie and McComb went hunting, Thomson painted, and in a frenzy it would seem. Although several birch board paintings fueled the nighttime campfire, at least 5 remain from that time: Sand Hill, White Birches on Round Lake, The Tent, Dawn on Round Lake, and Chill November (which was also set on Kawawaymog Lake, but painted the following winter in his Toronto studio).