Inventing Tom Thomson

Peter Harmathy teaches secondary-school fine arts in Barrie, Ontario.

As Canadians, we all know something about Tom Thomson, the great artist
whose suspicious death in 1917, in the prime of his life, galvanized
several artists into forming the Group of Seven. These are the facts;
the rest is rumour, speculation, or pure fiction, part of the
“inventing” of the Tom Thomson legend. Chapter 1 examines the
aggrandizing of Thomson as a Canadian legend, myth, and symbol. Chapter
2 (the book’s most insightful chapter) compares the factual/fictional
embellishments and contradictions of significant Thomson
authors/commentators such as A.Y. Jackson, Blodwen Davies, William
Little, and Harold Town, to name a few. Chapter 3 discusses poetry,
fictional re-creations, and performances (plays, films) that portray
Thomson’s life. Chapter 4 looks at artists’ portraits of Thomson (by
Joyce Wieland, Arthur Lismer, and Thomson himself, among others). The
final chapter describes the author’s pilgrimage to Tom Thomson holy
sites: the galleries in Kleinberg and Owen Sound, the Algonquin
“shrine,” and Canoe Lake itself (where Thomson drowned). The book is
supplemented with numerous photographs, illustrations, maps and
reprinted original articles.

Grace handles the facts with limited critical jargon, a questioning
mind, and yes, a woman’s bias. The latter is understandable,
considering the tiresome “masculinization” of the Thomson myth by
various authors. The wealth of insight Grace provides makes Inventing
Tom Thomson a definite keeper for Canadiana buffs.