Remembering Tom Thomson, 100 years on

The first week of July marked the hundredth anniversary of the death of Tom Thomson, the renowned 20th-century Canadian artist whose influence was integral to the formation of the Group of Seven. Inventing Tom Thomson: From Biographical Fictions to Fictional Autobiographies and Reproductions (2004) explores Thomson’s impact on Canadian art and culture, which endures through contemporary times.

Much of Thomson’s art can be found in the West Wind online gallery, as well as information about his extraordinary life.

Inventing Tom Thomson
From Biographical Fictions to Fictional Autobiographies and Reproductions

By Sherrill Grace

An examination of Canadian identity through our cultural obsession with iconic painter Tom Thomson.

“Grace’s investigation into the “invention” of Tom Thomson is a compelling tour not only into the making of a cultural phenomenon, but into the myth of Canada itself. … No-one, she argues, is able to approach Thomson objectively; every reinvention of Thomson is in part a projection of the inventor; every biography an autobiography. Thomson satisfies our need “for closure, for answers, for meaning, for validation.” – Books in Canada (Read more)

Since his drowning in 1917, Tom Thomson has been recreated by poets, playwrights, novelists, filmmakers, biographers, and other artists as a legendary figure synonymous with Canada and its northern identity. Touted as a great artist cut off in his prime, his mysterious death in Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park, and the controversy about his final resting-place fired the popular imagination and raised him to the status of a national hero. In “Inventing Tom Thomson” Sherrill Grace examines many of the ways in which the figure of Thomson has been imagined by Canadians. Even people who do not know his paintings well will recognize “The Jack Pine” and know his legend through the marketing of Thomson memorabilia on the Web, in museums, and in stores. Read more >