Tom Thomson was born in Ontario in August of 1877. He went missing in July 1917. Eight days later, his body was found in Canoe Lake with a head injury and fishing line wrapped 17 times around his leg – rumor has it. Rumor also has it his fiancee was pregnant. That’s the grocery store check out lane version.
1877 to 1917 were years replete with being fired, dropping out of
school, a little soldiering, and short-lived romance, but Thomson eventually found his way to serious painting in 1914. In the three years he was alotted, he produced hundreds of small paintings, several of which were converted to larger works on canvas in his shed (aka studio).
The work has a great graphic quality similar to some of the Prairie School printmaking and painting that would appear later, south of the border, as well as a Craftsman sentiment. His 
brushwork and color get compared, favorably, to the Stars of art history, but because he was mostly self-taught and spent a great deal of time in the wilderness, let’s just be amazed by the beauty and distinction of the paintings.
Thomson painted with a number of the people who would later become known as the Group of Seven. His paintings can be seen at the Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound, Canada, along with the Group of Seven.
There isn’t much a painter couldn’t learn from Tom’s paintings – color, composition, value, choice of subject, love of subject. And certainly
looking at “Dawn” below, I see Russ Chatham’s work. For a collector who has chosen to do his homework, the biggest lesson in Tom’s work centers around recognizing consistent excellence. Although every painter has bad days, the dud should be the rarity among jewels, not the other way around.
My thanks to Savannah painter, Robert Isley, for the heads up on Tom a few years back. It’s great to see quality work that I didn’t know about. Hope you’ve enjoyed it, too.
I was told once by a friend that a painting I was working on reminded him of Tom Thompson , he said particularly it was the design . He suggested that I look at the artists work if I hadn’t already. I didn’t , but recently I was at The Rockport Art Association and saw a book there on Thompson. Again I didn’t pick it up and look but your article pushed me and I am going to be sure to look into the artist. The friend is a very successful artist so I should find out what the good quality is that he somehow saw in the painting . I can be stubborn so thanks for pushing me Nancy, Paul
Paul, My pleasure! I hope you enjoy Thomson’s work as much as I do!
An excellent resource on the works and life of Tom Thompson may be viewed at http://www.tomthompson.org. Thank you for mentioning this artist, it is most unusual to see this posted in the United States
Best Regards
Robert Katz
Thanks Robert. We think the weather stops at the Canadian border, too!