How Tom Thomson tore up the rulebook and made art that galvanized the Group of Seven
'Thomson instinctively created art that was absolutely uniquely Canadian and didn't look like anything else'
Landscape Artist of the Year Canada brings together the country's top professional and amateur artists in a battle of the brushes to see who can best capture the country's most iconic landscapes. Stream Landscape Artist of the Year Canada now on CBC Gem.
Though often assumed to be a member of the Group of Seven, Tom Thomson's tragic death in 1917 came before the group's official founding in 1920. But Ian Dejardin, art historian and the executive director of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection (where Landscape Artist of the Year Canada's winner will have their work displayed!), assures us of just how vital Thomson was as an inspiration to the group: "There is absolutely no doubt that had he lived, he would have been a founding member of the group of possibly eight in 1920."
"He was a member of the same commercial firm that the others were a member of, and he was part of that idea of going out into the wilderness." But despite being seen as somewhat of a junior member at the time, and while other artists in the group such as Harris and Jackson were more experienced artists and had trained professionally in Europe, it was Thomson who inspired their direction. "Thomson tore up the rulebook and made art that absolutely galvanized the others."
"They realized that Thomson had somehow got there instinctively and had created art that was absolutely uniquely Canadian and didn't look like anything else. It was extraordinarily inspiring for them."
Sadly, Thomson died in Algonquin Park in 1917 at the height of his talent. "His death was a disaster" for the group, says Dejardin. "In many ways, that and the First World War meant they took three more years before they could come together, and in 1920, the founding of the Group of Seven is in many ways a reaction to Tom Thomson's death."
"It was a way of making his legacy live on."
Stream Landscape Artist of the Year Canada now on CBC Gem.
