CAST 1103H Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Tom Thomson, Algonquin Provincial Park, Emily Carr
14 Jun 2018
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Department
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Professor
• Tom Thomson - disappears on July 8th, 1917 at Canoe Lake.
o Was not part of the group of seven, they formed after his death
o One of Canada's most famous artists
o Influences painting in Canada for decades to come
o July 16th his body was found on Canoe lake, 8 days later
o Murdered? air in lungs, bruise on head and blood from ear.
o May 1912 started going to Algonquin park (needed money to go up and stay in
Algonquin)
o Prior to 1912 he was an urban person (but he grew up on a farm?)
o Produces a northern lake and wins the Govt's purchase prize of $250
o Dr. MacCallum became a patron of Tom Thomson, getting a lot of paintings for a
lesser price
o A.Y Jackson and Tom Thomson worked together and helped each other
o Tried to enlist, but was denied due to unknown health reasons
• Algonquin Park
• Group of Seven
o Championed the nationalism of Canada, art was recognized as Canadian and not
foreign.
o Thomson was taking members of the art community to Algonquin.
o 1920 they become identified as landscape artists
o Drawn together by the conservative quality of art
o rebelled against the earlier 19th-century naturalism
o Last exhibition together in 1930
o disbanded in 1933 and still remain as the most influential group of painters in
Canada
• Post Impressionism
o the style of brush-strokes and the amount of colors
o not realist, but showing emotion and interpretation
• a northern lake
o first painting from a sketch, won a govt prize in 1913
• "Hot Mush School"
o lots of paint on the canvas, almost like porridge, so hot mush
• National Gallery of Canada
o purchased the swamp picture in 1915 for $500
o 1918 bought the Jack Pine - was shown at Wembley in England and accepted as
quality art.
• Art Gallery of Toronto (Art Gallery of Ontario)
• British Empire (Wembley) Exhibition (1924)
o The group of seven artists, plus Tom Thomson displayed in England
o was recognized as distinctly Canadian
• Emily Carr
o influenced by the group of 7, but she is distinct
o Arguably the most original Canadian painters
o In 1910 she went to France to learn from French artists
o the belief was that indigenous cultures were dying, she made an attempt to paint
and chronicle totems
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