Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now

Thomas John Thomson (born 5 August 1877 in Claremont, ON;
died 8 July 1917, almost 40 years old )  circa 1905–10.                 
I started doing presentations about the art and science of Tom Thomson in the mid-1980s. I did not keep count but the number of presentations certainly numbers in the hundreds. This mountain of material has grown into a book that is now being blogged a bit at a time. 

Thoreau MacDonald (1901-1989), the son of JEH MacDonald of the Group of Seven, was also a friend of Tom and he wrote:

“Thomson’s work would be a fine study for some competent critic, but anyone attempting it should be familiar, not only with every phase of his work but with the country too, lakes, rivers, weather; have them in his bones … “

I prefer to be positive... being critical is not my style but my natural science background might bring fresh information to the Tom Thomson catalogue raisonné. This project will take some years to complete but I am in no rush. 

In the draft of my "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman" book, I included several chapters describing the meteorology and natural science employed to better understand his art. This information has already been written in the "The Art and Science of Phil the Forecaster" blogs which I have been compiling for many years. If you should encounter a term or concept that I do not adequately explain within the context of a particular Thomson work, a search of this site will certainly yield the answers. I will typically include linked references to the required background information with each painting. 

The following is a list of the Blog entries to date accompanied by a representative image and a linked title to the Blog. Some paintings require more than one blog to fully explain. Tom accurately painted the truth of what he saw. 

Arthur Lismer, his friend and Group of Seven member described Thomson as someone who "sought the wilderness, never seeking to tame it, but only to draw from it, its magic of tangle and season." That wilderness put the "wild" into his art. 

Blodwen Davies included in the 1967 publication "Tom Thomson: The Story of a Man Who Looked for Beauty and for Truth In The Wilderness" that  Tom Thomson had remarked: "Someday they will know what I mean." Hopefully, that day has arrived.

Note: Miss Blodwen Davies's passed in 1966 but she had previously sought help from Group of Seven artist A. Y. Jackson, who had written the Foreword to the first self-published version in 1935. That first printing was limited to 100 copies and the 1967 republished version of that scarce book is available to a larger audience. 

Thank you for your interest. These posts have been a lifetime in coming. 

Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman


Tom’s Tornado!


Tom’s Tornado Two - Some Science

Tom’s Tornado Three - Some Art


Tom's Summer Clouds


Thunderhead: Pink Cloud over a Lake - Summer 1916



Lightning, Canoe Lake: Summer 1915




Tom Thomson’s Last Weather Observation




Updated May 2024











Tom Thomson's "A Northern Lake" Was the Belt of Venus Sunrise
Tom Thomson's Black Spruce Autumn 1915 observation of a cold frontal passage
Tom Thomson's "First Snow in Autumn", Fall 1916 - Light and fluffy snowsquall snow laden on drooping balsam fir branches


Tom Thomson's Approaching Snowstorm - actually a snowsquall as contrasted with a synoptic scale winter storm.
Tom Thomson's After the Sleet Storm, 1916 - published 25 years after the 1998 Ice Storm and it brings back many personal memories.
Tom Thomson's Burnt Land at Sunset - the dynamics of the weather was Tom's inspiration. 


Tom Thomson's Afternoon: Algonquin Park, 1915 Studio Work in The Shack - Tom painted this in late November 1914 and one of his last works in the Studio Building before heading to the Shack. 

Tom Thomson's The Morning Cloud, 1913 Plein air sketch from the autumn of 1913. What an unusual cloud!

Tom Thomson's Petawawa Gorges Night 1916. The "fallout" from Creative Scene Investigation requires that "Petawawa Gorges, Night" along with the alternate titles "Sunset behind Cliff" and the "The Coming of the Night" need to be revised. The reality is that Thomson was a morning person and this painting was certainly a sunrise observation of light and shapes.



Islands, Canoe Lake, 1916. Some interesting meteorology and history. Tom Thomson spent some time at Canoe Lake in October 1916 after spending the summer being a forest fire ranger at Achray on Grand Lake. 

Landscape with Snow, 1916. Even more interesting meteorology and history. The flip side of Tom Thomson's “Rising Mist - Heavy Skies” Autumn 1916

Smoke Lake - Summer 1915. This is another of Thomson's double-sided panels and there is a story of weather and confusion behind it. 
The flip side of Northern Lights 1915.

Northern Lights 1915. The flip side of Smoke Lake - Summer 1915. Tom observed and recorded space weather as well. 

Path Behind Mowat Lodge, Spring 1917, The gift to Daphne Crombie includes a lot of interesting science as well. 
Canoe Lake Spring, 1917 - an afternoon sketch with the centre of the low-pressure area nearby turns into much more with the assistance of Roy MacGregor
Moonlight Over Canoe Lake 1916 A tremendous amount of science in this plein air panel...
Sunset Spring 1916 ... the view may not be what you think it is! 
Spring Sunset, Algonquin Park Spring 1916 also holds some surprises... this story was never told.
The Marsh, Early Spring 1916 - a challenge to place the location but not in the weather.


Sunset, Summer 1915. There is a lot of science in this painting and it was a spring sunrise (not sunset) painted around May 24th, 1915...

Sunset Sky, Summer 1915 was indeed a sunset but was observed in the spring.  
Sunset Sky, Spring 1915 was a spring painting but was actually a sunrise. This post has been years in the making and I have never included it in a “Tom Thomson was a Weatherman “ presentation. The last two posts lead to this one - a trio if not a quartet of skyscapes within a single event. 











Morning, Algonquin Park, Spring 1915. It was a dark and stormy morning at Canoe Lake that spring morning in 1915 when a cold front was crossing Mowat.
Ragged Pine, Spring 1916. Actually a black spruce but that is only the tip of the true story. 

Rocky Shore and Sky Summer 1915  The foreground was the devasted shore of Canoe Lake left behind by the forest industry.. lost habitats. The sky was full of interesting science!


Hot Summer Moonlight Summer 1915. Actually, a view overlooking Grand Lake from Achray possibly at 9 pm on May 11th, 1916... The waxing quarter moon spread the glow over the choppy waters of Grand Lake while a spring storm approached. And the story was recorded in Tom's brushstrokes. 

Sunset by Lake Alternate title: Sunset Summer 1915 Quite the back story behind this painting... 
Blue Clouds, Wooded Hills, and Marshes Summer 1915. Science Tuesday shines a new light on this painting... perhaps from 1916. 
Stormy Sky Summer 1915. Actually a split cold front mid-morning in spring. 
Fire-Swept Hills Summer or Fall 1915. Long-range Forecast: Continuing hot and dry for the rest of the 21st "Century of Fire". 




Ragged Lake Alternate titles: Northern Lake; Ragged Creek Fall 1915
Autumn Clouds Fall 1915 Dynamic cloud shaped by the wind bathed in the light of sunset tell an intriguing story of science and the weather.
Evening Cloud Alternate titles: Evening Clouds; Storm Cloud; Storm Clouds Fall 1915 Hers is the real story... cumulus congestus at a cold frontal passage wearing the Belt of Venus...

Artist's Camp, Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park Alternate title: Night Camp Fall 1915. There is a very interesting story behind the white "balloon silk", state-of-the-art tent. 
Tea Lake Dam Fall 1915 certainly painted in the spring with logs going to market - probably 1916. 
Moonlight Fall 1915 Actually painted in the spring of 1916... on the evening of April 18th about 18 hours before Ragged Pine, Spring 1916.
Abandoned Logs Fall 1915 Those logs were not abandoned in the spring of 1916 when Tom observed the log drive along Carcajou Creek. The tall pile of logs was a landing piled high by the hard-working lumbermen. 
Sketch for "The Drive" Fall 1916 After painting Abandoned Logs Tom probably strolled 100 metres along the western bank of Carcajou Creek to were the lumbermen were actively guiding logs through the sluiceway of the dam on the May morning in 1916. 
Sandbank with Logs, Summer or fall 1916  There is actually quite an interesting story behind this tangle of timbers... 
Bateaux Summer 1916 Actually Pointers and there is quite a story to be told. 



Yellow Sunset, Spring or Summer 1916 There are two sides to this very interesting story!








View from the Top of a Hill 1916. This is the flip side of "Yellow Sunset".  Together they tell quite a story. 

Aura Lee Lake Spring 1916. Aura Lee Lake which is now known as Laurel Lake was definitely not an arduous canoe trip downstream from Little Cauchon Lake where Tom and his friends were fishing and painting up a storm!
Early Spring in Cauchon Lake, Spring 1916. It was a challenge to locate the correct rocky face... still looking.
Algonquin Park, Spring 1916. There is a lot of science in this small panel... and we even can guess where Thomson was sitting. 
Birches, 1916 The sky was the real star of this painting.
The Lake, Bright Day, Fall 1916 The clouds tell the story. 

Spring Break-up, 1916 The underlying story is of a clear-cut forest with nothing to hold back the spring floods. The cracks in the shoreline ice hold those clues.
Portage, Ragged Lake Spring 1915 This is a story of icy swirls. Tea-stained ice pans swirling in the turbulent waters of the outflow from Ragged Lake during the spring flood.
Red Pines, Little Cauchon Lake, Algonquin Park, Spring 1916 The story can be discovered by strolling behind the Red Pines to take a closer look at the sky. 
The Sketch for the Jack Pine 1916. Imagine a solitary tree exposed on the rocky shore of a northern lake facing the elements alone. Simply staying alive was a victory. Thomson captured that iconic message in oils. "The Jack Pine" has become the metaphoric touchstone of the Canadian experience. Like the seeds of a torched Jack Pine, Thomson's art could only be sown after his death to inspire the next generation of artists. 
Little Cauchon Lake, Spring 1916 A story from the fishing trip of late April 1916. TT-134
Spring Foliage on the Muskoka River The tale of Thomson's Spring Foliage evolves into the story of three paintings completed on an early summer afternoon... TT-135









The Waterfall TT-Post 145
Pine Cleft Rocks Spring 1916
Little Cauchon Lake, Spring 1916
Landscape, Sunset Spring 1916
Tamarack Swamp Fall 1916
Boathouse, Summer 1916
The Dead Pine, Fall 1916 

Autumn, Petawawa, Fall 1916 (1916.94)




Algonquin Park Vista, Fall 1916 (1916.101)









Spring Lake, Fall 1916 (1916.117)









Pine Tree, Summer 1916 (1916.84)


Phantom Tent, Fall 1915
Tamaracks Alternate titles: Purple Distance; Yellow Trees Fall 1915
Tamarack Swamp Alternate title: Tamarack Fall 1915 
Round Lake, Mud Bay Alternate title: Geese, Round Lake, Mud Bay Fall 1915
November Day Alternate title: A November Day Fall 1915 
Sunset, Canoe Lake Alternate title: Canoe Lake Fall 1915
Northern Lake Alternate title: Northern Lake, Spring Summer 1916 
Poplars by a Lake Alternate title: Lake Through Trees Summer or fall 1916 
Petawawa Gorges Alternate titles: Cliff Landscape; Storm Over River Fall 1916
View from a Height, Algonquin Park Fall 1916
Somber Day Fall 1916 
Ragged Pine Fall 1916 
Birch by a Lake, with Big Cloud Alternate titles: Birch by a Lake; Birches; Clouds over a Lake Fall 1916 
Autumn, Algonquin Park 1916
Lake in Autumn Alternate titles: Late Afternoon?; Swamp in Fall? Fall 1916 
Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park Fall 1916
Pink Clouds Fall 1916
Wild Geese: Sketch for "Chill November" Alternate titles: First Snow Ducks; Sketch for "Chill November" Fall 1916 
Sunset, Canoe Lake Fall 1916




















The Pointers, Winter 1916–17 (1916-1917.13)
Hills in Autumn

The ability of nature to inspire and heal can be magical. The preceding articles were never intended to teach the incredible complexities of physics or meteorology. The goal was simply to encourage the reader to look at the natural world from a fresh perspective - to appreciate the magic of nature and perhaps become a "weather walker" and a protector of the environment. 

Tom was inspired by the super-natural that he witnessed through his brief forty years. That world is being threatened by unsustainable consumption which is the source of all environmental issues. The reader inspired by Tom's art and nature might be moved to take action for future generations as we careen through the Sixth Mass Extinction and  Earth's Loss of Biodiversity. That was the other goal of this effort disguised as art history. Art and science can be compatible. 

Of course, you may simply wish to enjoy the art of Tom Thomson and that is absolutely fine as well - even encouraged! As Claude Monet said: “Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.”

I always left the last word for Tom Thomson at the end of every "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman" presentation. On Saturday, July 7th, 1917 the day before he died, Tom wrote to his patron Dr. James MacCallum: "Will send my winter sketches down in a day or two and have every intention of making some more..." Tom was not finished his artistic journey!

Tom Thomson May 1917 at the campsite firepit. The last picture of Tom that I am aware of...

There are many more articles to come but it takes time to translate the "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman" book into blogs .. and I still need to follow my own artistic journey -  and catalogue raisonné as well. I prefer to tell my own story so that any mistakes are my own. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil the Forecaster Chadwick

PS: I once corresponded with Ross King, the author of "Defiant Spirits" and he considered that the "ancient question of St. Hilary of Poitiers—“Who can look on nature and not see God? ”—can be given a Canadian twist. Who can look on nature and not see Tom Thomson?" That phrase does indeed sum up the art and science of Tom Thomson. 








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