Sometimes it is best to start from scratch. Much has been guessed about Tom Thomson's "Boathouse" and a great deal of it is misleading conjecture. I refer the reader to the Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné for "Boathouse". It makes for interesting reading.
As real estate agents often say, the three most important considerations are:
- Location;
- Location; and
- Location.
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| "Boathouse" Summer 1916 Oil on birch panel mounted on plywood 8 13/16 x 10 1/2 in. (22.3 x 26.7 cm) Tom's paint box size, 1916.85 |
In the spirit of true adventurers, Bob and Diana scheduled a trip to Grand Lake to confirm or deny those suspicions. Here are the results of those very recent investigations (early May 2025). The McElroys reaffirmed that Tom was painting from the slope in front of the Out-Side-Inn when he created "Boathouse"!
"Bob and I agreed that was indeed the location. The vegetation on the shore there has changed somewhat in the last 100+ years (and there is now a picnic table and supports for a volleyball net), so it’s not possible to match the foreground of the painting exactly. The skyline is altered a bit by tree growth, but it is still possible to see the hills overlapping as Tom saw them. "View over a Lake, Autumn" does not have the shore in the foreground, but the angle of the water’s edge in "Boathouse" matches what one sees from in front of the cabin. The other locations we had previously considered were not as good a match, since the near shoreline in all cases appeared parallel to the far shore. It also seems like a reasonable spot for a boathouse – i.e. right in front of a ranger cabin – though I haven’t seen any old photos that show it there. As usual, we will never know for sure."
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| The clincher was the matching angle of the shoreline in both the photo and Tom's "Boathouse". |
"There is little doubt that the date of this sketch was 1916, since, as far as is known, that is the only year Thomson was at Achray. The time of year certainly appears to be summer, due to the fresh green of the foliage and the low water level. It could be either July or early August"
"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]."
In that same note, Tom tried to entice his patron to come to Achray the following week.
"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 about 12. The 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."
That trip probably never happened, but no one knows for certain. Tom returned to Toronto later that October or early November. The factual bottom line is that Thomson was around Grand Lake and Achray in 1916. Knowing the location of the painting thus firmly establishes the date.
"Note the low water level also in ‘View over a Lake, Autumn’, which could also have been summer or perhaps very early autumn. In this sketch, the red colour is due to sunrise behind the viewer, not foliage. The vegetation on the hill at the time was largely young deciduous trees (any suitable pines having been cut for lumber), and the large areas of green in the sketch show this. A comparison between these two sketches shows essentially identical patches on the large hill across the lake. Some light vertical streaks near the shore probably indicate birch or poplar trunks. The few conifers appear as dark green. This can be seen in the photograph from May 1925."
A comparison between these two sketches shows essentially identical patches on the large hill across the lake."
The present day vegetation (October 2014 photos below and May 2025 above) shows how the conifers have grown, particularly along the shore, but much of tree cover on the hill is deciduous, largely poplar and birch (both yellow in the fall) and patches of red oak (dark reddish brown). The hillside is a challenging environment for the growth of vegetation, being largely rock with patches of organic soil here and there. Most of the trees and other plants are species that can survive a dry environment. Bushwhacking to the top of the hill is not too difficult, since the bush is fairly sparse with some open patches.
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| The double-headed white arrow identifies the exposed rocky shoreline and is identical in both sketches. |
"It’s unfortunate that the image in the catalogue is cropped at the edges. I think it’s always interesting to see the messy strips at the sides where the panels slid into his sketchbox. The upper and lower edges are always of interest as well, as is the verso, but of course the latter is obscured by the extra plywood mounting.
The Boathouse panel is birch, 10.5 inches wide, with the grain running horizontally (as can be observed on the left and right edges of other panels from 1916). The main difference is the slightly larger vertical dimension [almost 9 inches versus the typial 8.5 inches of Tom's panels]. The original panel has been reinforced by plywood glued to the back, due to three horizontal cracks in the wood. Perhaps the cracks were due to moisture, or rough handling in transporting the panel, or maybe just weaknesses in the wood. It is not clear when the plywood was added.
With regard to the reference to the sketch of Mowat Lodge from a height (1914.46), there is no way this is a boathouse at Mowat Lodge. The hills in Boathouse don’t match the far shore of Canoe Lake.
Speculation that the panel size indicates that Thomson might have been running out of his usual size boards doesn’t seem likely. While his ‘standard’ size was "8.5 by 10.5”, many of his panels from 1916 vary slightly from these dimensions. It could be due to slight variations in the cutting of the boards by whatever mill he used to make the panels for him. However, in most cases the width of the panels would have fitted into his sketch box.
The reference to the much smaller panel [5x7 inches] used for Log Jam (1916.81) doesn’t seem relevant, as it appears to be an early spring scene rather than fall. The water flow in the log chute is high, as it would be in spring, and the tree colours – pale green or greenish white for poplars with leaves just emerging, and reddish purple for maples in flower – are also characteristic of spring."
"At the bottom of the Catalogue write-up is the following:
“Record last updated June 14, 2018. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.”
Note that I sent them an email in 2019 correcting their speculation about the date, location, season, and time of day. I have yet to receive a reply, nor has the text in the catalogue been updated."
I concur with all of the above, very thoughtful observations. Science (including Creative Scene Investigation) is the ongoing search for the truth. The facts are refined with knowledge and continued study.
The speculative comments found in the Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné for "Boathouse" have been addressed, but I doubt if Tom cared if the size varied. For him, the panels were all about 8.5 x 10.5 inches, and he would not see the reason for measuring the panel size to the nearest millimetre. "Tom Thomson's Approach to Plein Air" is a background post that contains a section explaining possible reasons for the variations in his panels.
Tom certainly could not have fathomed how valuable his sketches would become, fetching a maximum to date of $2,749,500 CAD for "Early Spring, Canoe Lake" at Heffel in Vancouver on November 26th, 2009. Recall that Tom used the sketches he was unhappy with as kindling for his evening bonfire. Oh my!
It is interesting to note that the official Catalogue Entry included above describes this painting as a square measuring 8.5 inches on each side. Errors are easily made but sometimes quite challenging to correct.
There are at least fourteen paintings in Thomson's portfolio that include "Early Spring" in their title. The Creative Scene Investigation (CSI) for "Early Spring, Canoe Lake" can be found here: https://chadwicknaturallycurious.blogspot.com/2023/07/tom-thomsons-early-spring-canoe-lake.html
The value of an original Thomson plein air painting might explain why they are now measured accurately to the nearest millimetre. Some artists, including myself, consider the size of the art when pricing. In Thomson's case, an 8.5 x 10.5 yields 89.25 square inches. If you employ "Early Spring, Canoe Lake" as the standard, each square inch is valued at $30,807 CAD, making the measurements very important! A square millimetre of that Thomson sketch is worth $48 CAD, with more than 57 thousand of those to be found in each panel. Of course, serious art collectors are motivated by factors other than size.
I remain amazed and gratified by the considerable amount of dedicated effort and investigation into the art of Tom Thomson. Countless individuals with broad ranges of expertise and experience contribute unique insights into the art of Thomson. It would be a pity not to share this information with the larger art community. The art of Tom Thomson still helps to define the social fabric of Canada. We are all in this together, attempting to learn each day.
Harris and MacDonald, pictured below, did their very best to catalogue the art of their friend. Unfortunately, due to World War One, they were unable to accompany him for many of the works they documented from Thomson's Shack in the spring of 1918. Those bold panels were all very "cold cases" at least a couple of years old to Harris and MacDonald. They were assigning titles, dates, location and other information as best they could. MacDonald had never been to Algonquin, which made the effort especially challenging. Viewing Thomson's final sketches would have been emotional for his friends, who were likely still grieving from his loss.
Thomson could have made the organization of his art much easier if he had just noted some specifics about each. The date, location and motivation behind each painting would have been enough to assign a meaningful title. Tom may have left very few words behind, but he did paint exactly what he saw, and perhaps that is enough. Tom did not make anything up and recorded the reality of what inspired him in his brush strokes. Sleuthing facts by applying science to his subjects is all we have to work with.
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| "Boathouse" as it would have appeared in Tom's pochade box. |
- l.l. and u.r., Thomson estate stamps;
- u.l., on frame, blue label, Art Gallery of Toronto [on loan from Peggy Lownsbrough (née Waldie, sister of R.S. Waldie), "for examination by David Brooke," 1966;
- l.m., label (bottom part of), Laing Galleries, Toronto
- Estate of the artist
- Laing Galleries, Toronto, Ontario
- Robert Stanley & Mary Margaret (Meta) Waldie (née Gibson), Toronto, Ontario, 1966 (by descent)
- Robert Gordon Waldie, Toronto, Ontario (by descent)
- Private collection.
