Tom Thomson: The Life and Mysterious Death of the Famous Canadian Painter

Peter Harmathy teaches fine arts in Victoria.

Jim Poling Sr. is author of The Canoe: An Illustrated History (2000),
The Decoy (2001), and a book of short stories entitled Lights in the
Dark Forests (2003). He lives in Alliston, Ontario, and has a cottage
near Tom Thomson’s old (and current!) haunts of Algonquin Park.

Thomson (1877–1917), Canada’s most important and revered painter,
subverted the romantic European landscape tradition by creating a raw
expressionist style that was uniquely Canadian. His death helped
jump-start the Group of Seven, whose works are known to all Canadians.
Thomson’s untimely and mysterious death is the subject of this book.

The artist’s early years are briefly covered. He was raised on a farm
near Georgian Bay, worked as a commercial artist in Seattle and Toronto,
and spent the summers of 1913–17 in Algonquin Park (the four short
years during which he created his most influential works). We learn
about his romances, his outdoor skills, his difficult relationship with
the park community, and the events leading up to the fateful day in July
1917 when his body was found floating in Canoe Lake.

Questions about his death abound: Why was he buried before the coroner
arrived? Why was there an injury on his head? Why was his ankle wrapped
with fishing line? Rumors of his reburial, ghosts on the lake,
gravediggers, and a skeleton found make up the fodder of this great
tale.

Poling provides the most comprehensive, authoritative view to date of
the facts surrounding the artist’s mysterious death. He does not
provide definitive answers, but he does demonstrate that unsolved
mysteries can be the stuff of legend.