Tom Thomson

Northern River Marsh



Tom Thomson 1877-1917

Recently someone asked me where I was from in Canada.  When I replied I was from northern Ontario he asked if that was any where near the "wilderness" of Canada.  It hit me that actually I was from "the wilderness" of Canada- that wild landscape of Precambrian shield, shaped by glaciers, of lakes, forests, rocks and hills.  It is a place where the landscape and the climate really effect our lives.
One of the first Canadian artists to portray this rugged landscape, as it really existed, was Tom Thomson.  He grew up in Ontario and loved the lifestyle of hunting, fishing and camping.  Thomson spent months on end alone in the bush painting the sky, swamps, the pines in all seasons and time of day.  It was a new way of seeing the place in the early 1900s and it still looks quite modern today. 
He died young in a drowning accident but his work has lived on and loved by many especially those who know northern Ontario.



Cedars and Pines



The Jack Pine