Tom Thomson

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is the
author of several books, including The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese
Women’s Lives, Kurlek and Margaret Laurence: T

This strikingly beautiful art book celebrates the work, life, and times
of Canadian artist Tom Thomson (1877–1917). Eight experts are
responsible for the text. There are essays by Charles Hill, Andrew
Hunter, Dennis Reid, Robert Stacey, and John Wadland; technical studies
by Sandra Webster-Cook and Anne Ruggles; and a chronology by Joan
Murray.

With 140 color plates and 100 black-and-white photographs, the book
represents the major Tom Thomson exhibitions that are being held across
Canada, from Quebec to Vancouver, between June 7, 2002, and December 7,
2003. Different perspectives afford a rounded look at the life and work
of this well-known and greatly admired painter. Hunter comments on
Thomson’s treatment of such early 20th-century ideals as nationhood,
heroism, and sacrifice. Stacey explores the influence of Thomson’s
work as a commercial artist, and the interests he shared with colleagues
who later became known as the Group of Seven. Wadland discusses
Thomson’s activities, which included being a wilderness guide and
naturalist in an area of Ontario’s northland that was starting to be
changed by logging and tourism in the early 20th century. Hill’s
biographical essay includes a stylistic analysis of Thomson’s entire
body of work.

Webster-Cook and Ruggles describe the artist’s methods and his
typical palette, while Murray provides a detailed chronology complete
with photographs. Altogether, the book offers a feast for eye and mind,
and a worthy tribute to one of Canada’s greatest artists. In
Thomson’s work, Canada has a national treasure.