Tom Thomson’s jack pine, painted against a background of lake and sky, has come to symbolize the Canadian North. This film outlines the story of Tom Thomson’s brief life (1877-1917) and career, which began in Toronto, where he worked as a commercial artist. Weekend sketching trips in the country turned into longer journeys farther north, and Thomson finally moved to Algonquin Park, in northern Ontario. When he wasn’t painting and canoeing, he was a park guide. We watch wonderful photography of his favourite landscapes, interspersed with images of the paintings they inspired. Thomson spent less than four years as an artist and was barely 40 when a canoe accident ended his life. Fellow artists Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson and Arthur Lismer pay tribute to this genius, who, in Jackson’s words, “contributed more to Canadian painting than any other artist.”
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
011790
Language
English
Subject categories
Anthropology, Ethnology, Exploration & Travel → Ontario
Crafts & Visual Arts → Art - History
Crafts & Visual Arts → Art - Study and teaching
Crafts & Visual Arts → Art appreciation
Crafts & Visual Arts → Artists - Biography
Crafts & Visual Arts → Artists - Canada
Crafts & Visual Arts → Group of Seven (Group of artists)
Crafts & Visual Arts → Landscape painting
Crafts & Visual Arts → Painters - Canada
Documentary → Documentary films - Canada
Education, Instruction, Teaching & Schools → Art - Study and teaching
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)
16mm film; Limited Access Print (Section 2)