In Search of Tom Thomson: Part 1, 100 Years of Mystery

Anyone who knows me well, knows I love the Group of  7 artists. That came to me naturally as I grew up in Kleinburg, Ontario and my public school shared a fence with the McMichaels. Robert and Singe McMichael loved Canadian art as well. So much so, they wanted to share it with everybody. They eventually donated their home and their extensive art collection to the Government in trust for the people of Canada. Since it was right next door, our school took us each year on a field trip to what became known as The McMichael Canadian Art Collection. Interestingly, my school (before my time) was the very first group tour of the Gallery when it first opened. As you approach the Gallery down its long winding drive you are first greeted with this sight:

A small rickety looking shack that is locked. Peering through the windows you are transported back in time. Dusty items lay strew about almost haphazardly. A painter's easel stands at the ready, a box of paints nearby and a small stack of well-used brushes. It is known as the Tom Thomson Shack, and it was his winter home and studio in Rosedale, Toronto. The shack stood behind the "Studio Building." An artist's enclave built in 1914 by Group of 7 member Lawren Harris, and the Group of 7's first patron Dr. James McCallum. Tom Thomson was not a Member of the Group of 7. He died the year before their first exhibit. 100 years ago this very month. This rickety old shack was my very first introduction to my favourite Canadian artist.

I visited the McMichael many more times throughout my childhood and got to know the names and works of all the artists including Tom Thomson. But the moment that solidified the artist as my favourite was on our grade 8 trip to Ottawa. We visited the National Art Gallery and it is where I first came face to face with this:

The Jack Pine (1917)

The Jack Pine by Thomson was completed in 1917 the winter before he died, from a sketch he made on Grand Lake in Algonquin Park in 1916. This little .JPG picture does not do the painting justice. It is rough, and thick piled high with paint. The painting style conveys the harsh wilderness and the rough land it was painted in. The sky is alive with colours. Colours you see in a sunset like pinks, blues and greens, but one never really sees in paintings. When I left Ottawa all I took as a souvenir was a small square button depicting the Jack Pine. I was a Tom Thompson fan.

Portrait of an Artist

Thomas John Thomson was born August 5th, 1877 in Claremont, Ontario near what is now Pickering. But, he grew up in Leith, near Meaford. He always loved sketching and painting but it wasn't until later in his life they would play a major role in his career. In 1899 he took work as a machine shop apprentice in an iron foundry but was fired for constant tardiness. He then volunteered for service in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces in the Second Boer War; however, he was turned down for a health condition. He also tried to join the Forces for WWI and was turned down again. In 1912 he went to Algonquin Park for the first time. He worked as a Ranger, a firefighter and a guide in the Park but complained it took too much time away from his painting. In Toronto, he worked for a series of printers and art designers where he met the other members of the Group of 7. He first exhibited a painting in 1913 (Northern Lake) and it was acquired by the Government of Ontario for $250, a huge sum of money at that time.

Northern Lake (1913)

He divided his time over the next few years earning enough money to keep himself in paints and living most of his summers on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park. He and his artist friends started to make a name for themselves and were gaining some attention, until the summer of 1917 when tragedy struck.

Last Days on the Lake

July 8th, 1917 Thomson Took his canoe out in the morning for some fishing and never returned. The canoe turned up later in the day complete with packed lunch and fishing gear, but no Thomson. Eight days later two park workers found his body floating in the water near Little Wapomeo Island. There was no coffin available for him so they towed the body in and tied him to a dock and left him in the water. July 17th Thomson received his first burial. He was taken to the Mowat Cemetery behind Mowat lodge where he used to stay. and interred there. On the 19th of July, his brother came to collect the body for reburial in Leith at the family plot. He was buried again on July 21st. That was the official account.

Or did it happen that way?

Fishing on Canoe Lake

Many, many questions remain unanswered about Thomson's death. How did an experienced woodsman just fall out of his boat and drown? Was he murdered? Did he commit suicide? Who knew what? The body was beginning to decompose and no formal post-mortem was conducted. Witnesses said that he had bruising and an injury to his left temple. (which could have been consistent with falling out of a canoe and striking the gunnels or a rock. He also had a length of fishing line wrapped 14 times around one of his legs. Some said he was despondent in love or felt rejected in his work and shot himself; neither of which seems likely. There are some who say he had troubles with some of the locals, possible affairs with married women. Then there was the question, was his body even sent to Leith?  One of the workers had claimed a sealed, empty casket was sent instead because the body was in too bad a shape and they did not want to dig it up again.

Then In 1956 a couple of locals who firmly believed Thomson was still in his grave at Canoe lake decided to find out for themselves.  After a few drinks (don't you love it when stories start this way...) They headed up to the Mowat Cemetary with some shovels and began to dig in a depression just outside the gate of the small enclosure. The place where Thomson was reportedly buried. And they found a body. But not just any body, one with a large hole in the head. There was a blunt force trauma hole 3/4 of an inch in diameter on the left temple. Exactly where Thomson was injured. The skeleton was dismissed as an unknown aboriginal and reburied. However recently scans of the photos taken were compiled into a 3d representation and a forensic artist recreated the face of the skull. She was astonished to find Tom Thomson looking back at her.

Tom Thomson's Skull? 1956

The Completed reconstruction

Now, this was by no means definitive as the skull was re-created by artists and not 3d scanned as it the current practice. So we cannot rule out accidental artistic bias. For some people, this answers a lot of question, for much more it opens up another can of worms. Was he murdered? How? The forensic report from 1956 stated that no bullet was found in the skull and there was no corresponding damage on the opposite side of the entry wound. There were no radiating fractures as are usually seen when a skull is pierced by a sharp object. However, I think they overlooked the simplest answer my thought on the murder weapon is a hammer. More specifically a British style claw hammer from the late 1800s early 1900s such as this one:

It is certainly something a cottager would have on hand. Impacts from hammers are consistent with the damage seen in the Mowat skull. But... I'm a beer blogger, not a forensic examiner.

My Expedition

All these things aside, the mystery may never be solved. The rabbit hole is so deep, I could not explain it all in the confines of one blog post. I could devote an entirely new blog to it and several books. But people have already written them. If you want more information there is plenty out there all freshly re-printed for the 100th anniversary. What I could do is go walk in his footsteps on this the centennial of his demise.

I went out yesterday and visited Canoe Lake. Something I have wanted to do for a very long time. It was the anniversary of his disinterment from Mowat. I didn't get out on the day he died... it was a Saturday, and the lake looked like a canoe parking lot (I saw pictures). But I stood at the memorial where he liked to camp, paddled the waters he called home. and took a long muddy bug infested walk up into the woods behind the ruins of Mowat and visited (one) of his grave(s).

Mowat Cemetery 2017

Cheers

CJT