Tom Thomson's Birches, 1916

The next painting was anticipated to follow in the series of  Creative Scene Investigations (CSI) from the spring of 1916 when Tom Thomson was fishing and painting with friends in northeastern Algonquin Park. 

The Official Catalogue Raisonné entry for "Birches, Spring 1916" was clear. This painting was also in the wheelhouse of my Tom Thomson experts who were very familiar with the Grand Lake area where that springtime painting was likely to be completed. The CSI was expected to be straightforward, informative and fun. 

Birches, 1916

Oils on wood 8.39 x 10.51 inches

Thomson's Paint Box Size, 

Catalogue 1916.70

I was primarily motivated to include this painting because the sky was actually the subject of Thomson's interest. The title might have been "Birches" but those vertical trunks were included primarily for compositional design. The colours in the sky were the real stars of Tom's plein air painting. 

It is unlikely that Thomson understood the science behind the atmospheric colours, but he had doubtless painted the phenomenon previously - see "A Northern Lake". In 1851, nearly 9 in 10 Canadians lived in rural areas. Survival depended on a knowledge of the weather and the environment. The celestial dome was a big part of their life and their living!

Since Thomson's days, the proportion of Canadians living in rural areas has dramatically declined. The break-even point occurred in the 1920s when more people lived in the cities than in the country. By 2021 Statistics Canada reveals that only 18 percent of the Canadian population were classified as rural dwellers. 

More than a century after Thomson painted his observation of the sky, most people are still unaware of this phenomenon which occurs twice every day. The population is very much urban in the 21st century in sharp contrast to the rural lifestyle of 1916.  According to a 2020 article from the University of Colorado in Boulder, (See "Celestial phenomena: STEVE, Belt of Venus, Earth's shadow and the Milky Way"):

"Approximately 90% of Americans have never seen the Milky Way, and a recent study of light pollution in the world reports that 80% of Americans cannot see stars in the night sky near their homes due to light pollution." 

It should not be surprising that people are generally unaware of the "Belt of Venus" when most city dwellers can't even see the horizon. Tom painted the colours of a classic "Belt of Venus" for at least the second time in his career. 

The Belt of Venus, also called Venus's Girdle or the anti-twilight arch is an atmospheric phenomenon visible shortly before the sun rises or after sunset, during civil twilight (the geometric center of the sun is within 6 degrees below the horizon). The pinkish glow surrounds the observer and extends 10 to 20 degrees above the horizon.

Everyone can see this phenomenon twice a day, weather permitting, but few rarely ever take any notice. Perhaps the best way to decipher Tom’s motivation is with some actual images as depicted in the following graphic. The Belt of Venus is viewed with the sun on your back with a clear sky from horizon to horizon typically devoid of all clouds. For a sunrise experience, the Belt of Venus occurs on the western horizon while during the sunset, the same observation can be made to the east. Without a knowledge of the terrain, the only hint to determine whether it is a sunrise or a sunset Belt of Venus is the intensity of the scattered red light.

Tom's motivation and a bit of the science are briefly explained in the following graphic. Tom's "Birches" occupy the upper left of the graphic while the Grand Lake sunset Belt of Venus is in the upper right. 

Simply, the horizontal band of darker bluish-grey (5) along the horizon is the shadow of the earth cast on the lower atmosphere. The swath of rose and pinkish hues (4) in the layer above the shadow results from the scattering of light that follows a long trajectory through the lowest layers of the atmosphere. The blue spectrum of that direct beam from the sun has all been scattered leaving only the longer red wavelengths for illumination. The shades of blue higher in the atmosphere result from Rayleigh scattering of the blue spectrum by atmospheric molecules. Tom was intrigued by the colours in the sunset sky but selected to include a veil of trees and shrubs in the foreground - a penchant which was a signature of his compositional style. 

A closer look at "Birches, Spring 1916" yields some important discrepancies. The trees were displaying their autumn colours suggesting that the season was not spring at all! Further, my Thomson friends suggest that their search for appropriate painting locations around Whitson and Grand Lakes for this terrain did not produce any convincing matches.

The details included in Thomson's observation of the Belt of Venus held some important clues. This observation could have been completed beside Lowery Dickson's Shack at the north end of Canoe Lake where he had painted before. Tom was looking easterly at sunset. The open water of Potter Creek was in the foreground aided by the Coriolis deflection of the current. The still water along the terrain that separates Potter and Joe Creeks was ice-covered from the previous couple of days of clear and cold weather in the wake of a cold front. Some snow had fallen with that long-gone weather system. The snow coated the reflective surface of the fresh autumn ice.

Tom was still working as a fire ranger on October 4th, 1916 but was "hoping to be laid off soon". In a letter to his patron Dr. James MacCallum (Tom Thomson, Letter to Dr. James MacCallum, Oct. 4, 19[16?]) Tom wrote:

Basin Depot / Oct. 4. 19 [1916]

Dr MacCallum / 26 Warren Rd.

Dear Sir ---

I received both your letters at the same time and was glad to hear about things in Toronto.  The Country up here is just taking the fall colour and by the end of the week it will be at its best.

Could you arrange to come up this week.  You could get a train to Achray at Pembroke Sat. Night at 7.30 or more likely 10 o’clock and be here somewhere around 12.  That train leaves from Brent Sunday morning then the next one down is Wednesday morning but I could paddle you down to Pettawa [sic] from here any day you should want to go out.

Have done very little sketching this summer as I find that the two jobs don’t fit in.  It would be great for two artists or whatever you call us but the natives can’t see what we paint for.  A photo would be great but the painted things are awuful [sic].  When we are travelling, two go together one for the canoe and the other the pack and there’s no place for a sketch outfit when your fireranging.

We are not fired yet but I am hoping to get put off right away.  I will expect you Sat. Night or any time you can get away.

Thanking you for your letters I am

Yours truly / Tom Thomson

The above is the complete letter from the MacCallum Papers collection located in the National Gallery of Canada Archives, Ottawa. The link above is to the excellent Canadian Mysteries website and specifically to Death on a Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy. The informative website removed the important second paragraph in Tom's letter. Those words display that Tom and his friends were very knowledgeable regarding train travel to and from Algonquin Park. That kind of expertise can only be developed from familiarity with the service. Train travel in the early 20th century was efficient and convenient before Henry Ford's Model T first introduced in 1908 changed the world. How things have changed in a century! 

During the 1970s, my physics professors at Queen's University were heavily involved in magnetic levitation and high-speed train travel. A few years later as a young meteorologist, some of my coworkers were already very concerned with climate change. Transport 2000 was started in 1977 by concerned citizens that same year I became a meteorologist. They were addressing the exponentially increasing carbon footprint of transporting goods and services using trucks and highways. Now known as "Transport Action Canada", the advocacy group focuses on railways and expanding instead of contracting those train services. I greatly admired these forward-thinking and creative individuals. 

Sadly their vision was not implemented in Canada. For reason unknown, policy decisions favoured highways and the trucking industry over rail. Major "super-highways" that carve up and destroy irreplaceable habitats are still being built. Reality TV shows like Heavy Rescue: 401, Highway Thru Hell, Car Crash TV and World's Most Dangerous Roads are now deemed entertainment. But I digress yet again.

The following map of train routes from 1915 reveals several travel options for Thomson and his friends. The black oval comprises the area of the fishing holiday in the spring of 1916. Canoe Lake on the Grand Trunk Railway is within the white oval. Dr MacCallum, Lawren Harris and Chester Harris from Toronto might have even met up with Thomson in Huntsville and then proceeded as a group to Brent. The train offered easy routes home after the holiday ended and they had to return to the big city. The train was and still is the efficient way to get around Ontario even when much of it was still a relative "wilderness" back in Thomson's days. 

The canoe trip from Canoe Lake to the Cauchon Lakes is a wonderful adventure in the summer. The ice and snow of April make it unlikely that the vacationing friends used that canoe route for their fishing holiday. Although the canoe is a symbol unique to Canada and was widely used to travel the waterways of the vast land, Tom took the train probably before and after working as a fire ranger. 

Tom Wattie with a loaf of fresh bread

The romantic version of Thomson as a lone canoeist quietly enduring the hardships of lengthy wilderness travels in his quest to record iconic images of Canada is largely mythical. 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, the son of Tom Thomson's friend Tom Wattie. ' 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..."

My Thomson friend also confirmed that the train would have delivered Tom back to Canoe Lake:

"Thomson would have taken the train from Achray in the fall of 1916, after spending the summer “not getting much painting done”....connections with the Grand Trunk train would carry him through Algonquin Park to Canoe Lake Station."

After some investigation, Thomson almost certainly took the train back to Canoe Lake Station after this fire ranger job ended (Also see Ontario and Quebec Railway Territories 1915). His friend Shannon Fraser certainly picked his friend Tom up from the train station using his horse-drawn buggy. Tom's journey back to Mowat Lodge for some of Annie's homecooked meals would not have been very arduous.

Tom would have been anticipating the company of his friends at Mowat Lodge. His guiding buddies would have been looking forward to a visit from Tom as well and might have filled him with plentiful good cheer. The 1913 picture to the left shows Tom's friend and fishing guide Lowery Dickson with some happy clients. 

Thomson's friend Lowery Dickson (left) guiding a group in 1913

Coincidentally, the Ontario Temperance Act was also passed in 1916 before Tom painted "Birches". That Act prohibited alcohol in Ontario. Lowery Dickson (also referred to as Larry/ Lowry, Dixon/Dickson) did not let some laws alter the lifestyle that he had enjoyed for most of his eighty-some years. Sadly, Lowery Dickson would die early in the spring of  1918 from injuries incurred while canoeing during a severe thunderstorm. Recall that supercellular severe convection is climatologically common across Algonquin Park in the spring of the year. 

As an interesting aside Edwin Thomas worked at Algonquin Park Station at Cache Lake in 1913. Edwin moved his family to Canoe Lake Station and was the proprietor of that station from circa 1914 to 1920. Edwin and his family would have been well acquainted with Tom Thomson when he was actively painting and using the railway lines. Apparently, Edwin and Mrs Thomas opened Kish Kaduk Lodge on Cedar Lake circa 1927/28. Rose Thomas and her younger cousin Jack Wilkinson would later operate the lodge until around 1975... but I digress... again... 

The following historical photo below shows George Rowe and Charlie Scrim, both guiding friends of Thomson. George Rowe lived with Lowery Dickson in a cabin on a low sandy point at the mouth of Potter and Joe Creeks. Rowe was trained as a typesetter but was displaced by technology. 

Tom was eager to get at his brushes again. He could have been "home" and painting up a storm again by mid-October 1916.  "Birches" was probably even completed at Canoe Lake!

The low terrain just above the low water levels of autumn is typical of the shore where Potter and Joe Creeks converge. Tom would paint that landscape about six months later when Annie Fraser and Daphne Crombie went for a stroll. 

The following graphic links the terrain painted by Thomson in the spring of 1917. Tom's "Lowery Dickson's Cabin"  is on the left with similar, numbered features observed in "Birches" on the upper right. The viewing angle would have been approximately from 256 degrees which was the sunset azimuth for October 21st, 1916. The terrain features match well between the two paintings. The screen of shoreline white birches was even recorded in both paintings. 

The following historical photo of Lowery Dickson's cabin at the exit of  Potter Creek shows how low it was to the water. The bow of the photographer's canoe is in the foreground. Some birch trees that attracted Thomson to the painting site are also included in the photo. Tom stood among the birches standing in clumps to the right of the cabin. 

If I may digress yet again, there are even more details to be gleaned from the information revealed by the above historical photo. The front porch of Lowery Dickson's Cabin enjoyed a southerly exposure at the very edge of Canoe Lake. The canoe's bow, the lady's dress and the tin roof were all strongly front-lit. The orientation of the roof line matches that from Thomson's 1917 painting "Lowery Dickson's Cabin". Thankfully, Tom painted exactly what he saw. 

Employing the orientation of the roof line and the terrain of Dickson's Point, the following graphic summarizes how we might deduce exactly where Thomson painted that October sunset in 1916 - the yellow star in the graphic. Tom was beside Lowery Dickson's Cabin when he painted "Birches". The more we look, the more we will see. By the way, that is all the cabin I would require to thoroughly enjoy life surrounded by nature, but I digress yet again. 

Another digression links Lowery Dickson, George Rowe and Tom Thomson for the last time. On July 16th, 1917 more than a week after Thomson went missing on July 8th, Lowery Dickson was paddling from the stern of his canoe with George Rowe in the bow. Dr. Goldwyn Howland, a Psychiatric doctor on ordered medical leave from his position at the Spadina Military Hospital in Toronto, saw something surface on the lake. He was vacationing at the Taylor Statten Cottage on Little Wapomeo Island with his daughter. They directed the passing guides to the grisly discovery of Thomson's decomposing body. The red cross in the above graphic locates where Thomson's body was found. 

Now back to Thomson's painting, a large high-pressure centre was controlling the weather when Tom observed the "Birches" in late October 1916. Clear, cold and calm nights would have been conducive for making ice on the lake. Any snow that fell with the departed weather system that had ushered in the Arctic air, would remain on the ice as the white blanket Tom painted. The sunshine would have made the days pleasant for painting and fishing but not mild enough to melt the snow or ice. It is a favourite time of the year for plein air painting with no biting bugs. The Belt of Venus was proof that the sky was clear from horizon to horizon on the October day.

The "Birches" title of the painting refers to the trees which were employed as compositional elements in the painting. Tom had a tendency to include a screen of trees in the foreground of his work. His graphic design experience guided him in placing those trees although I personally doubt that he moved the reality of their positioning very much from nature. The "rule of thirds" is described in the following graphic even though all rules are meant to be broken if not bent. 

My Thomson friend also observes:

"I have been looking at the sketch to see what order things were painted.  Interesting that the main white birch trunks went on before the sky, but the foliage and the skinny black saplings were laid over the sky later.  The Belt of Venus doesn't last very long, so perhaps he just wanted to get the bones of the composition down first, catch the sky colours right away, and finish the details afterwards.  I'll spend some more time on this aspect - I always feel it gives a little peek into his mind and his approach to capturing the beautiful, fleeting moments of weather."

There are no art police rulings on how trees are included with respect to the background. Brushing trees on top of the oils of the painted background is just as effective as leaving space for the tree and painting the areas in between. Thomson did what he had to do in the spur of the moment. The panel had to be completed before the inspiration vanished. A Belt of Venus lasts a maximum of twenty minutes, changing quickly and continually from the moment it starts to appear until it vanishes ... 

The Official Catalogue Raisonné conflicts with the above Creative Scene Investigation. Of course, we will never be absolutely certain of the details deduced from this "very cold case" a century later. Thankfully, Thomson included enough details in his brush strokes to reveal his true motivation. His catalogue includes 42 works using the word "birch" in the title. Unsurprisingly, not a single painting includes "Belt of Venus" in the name. Thomson did at least two Belt of Venus paintings...

This painting would have been included in the towering stack of panels salvaged from Thomson's Shack. Either Harris or MacDonald probably suggested the uninspired title "Birches". They also applied the estate stamp on the back of the panel but not the front. Both Harris and MacDonald were urbanites and did not see the atmospheric Belt of Venus in the painting. They were probably not certain if the painting was a sunrise or sunset so wisely deferred that judgment. All of this is completely understandable given that so few recognize this daily phenomenon, weather permitting, even a century later.  

Tom was apparently very happy with his art and took the time to sign it on the lower right - something he rarely did with his plein air work. The very enlarged signature is included in the above graphic.  My Thomson friend observes: 

"The signature was probably done with the side of a small, flat brush or perhaps with paint on the end of a brush handle - the colour looks like the blue band in the sky."

I quite agree. I typically use a toothpick to sign my plein air work. A colour swatch of that bluish-grey found in the shadow of the Earth is also included in the above graphic. The signature is just a bit darker in tone. If the painting was signed soon after completion as suggested, the wet oils on the panel would be flattened a bit and perhaps mixed with the oils being applied. A microscopic examination of the painting surface would be required in order to be certain. 

Inscription verso: 

• c., estate stamp; 
• u.l., in red, - and above 44; 
• u.r., in blue crayon, W.P. Mackenzie? / J. MacD; 
• c.l., in graphite, 1916
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Provenance:

• Dr. J.M. MacCallum, Toronto, purchased 1918
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

MacCallum also saw something special in this panel even if he did not see the "Belt of Venus".

The boots on the ground and paddles in the water of my Thomson friends continue to contribute greatly to these posts. Enquiring minds and good science can rediscover the truth behind the art even a century after the event. These posts are the accumulation of the work of many individuals who have been inspired by the art of Tom Thomson and have been urged to investigate further. Thank you all!

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick, Tom Thomson Post TT-128

PS: Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now contains all of the entries to date.