Bulletin 16, 1970

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Photographs by Tom Thomson

by Dennis Reid, Curator of Post-Confederation Art

Pages  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8

Notes on the Photographs 

1 Scarborough Bluffs, I 













2 Scarborough Bluffs, II 












During his earlier years in Toronto, Thomson is known to have frequented the Scarborough Bluffs on Lake Ontario, just east of the city. From the fullness of the foliage, the photographs appear to have been taken during the summer. This probably means that they should be dated 1912 or earlier, since, from 1913 until his death, he was in the north from early spring until late fall.

3 A lake in Southern Ontario, I 







4 A lake in Southern Ontario, II









5 A lake in Southern Ontario, III 










The fenced, rolling terrain, cleared fields and type of trees in these photographs suggest that they were taken in that part of Ontario lying to the south of the Pre-cambrian shield. Thomson is known to have frequented Lake Scugog with a friend, H. B. Jackson, during 1911. All three of these photographs could depict that lake, which lies north of Oshawa and south-east of Lake Simcoe. Note the common barnyard ducks in photograph 5.

6 Canoeing through drowned land, I










7 Canoeing through drowned land, II










During August and September 1912, Thomson and a friend from Toronto, W. S. Broadhead, took a long canoe trip in the area of the Mississauga Forest Reserve. (1) As far as is known, this was Thomson's first extended experience of wilderness life. In a letter written upon his return to Toronto, he told a friend about the trip and included the only existing reference he was to make to an interest in photography: "We got a great many good snapshots of game - mostly moose and some sketching but we had a dump in the forty mile rapids which is near the end of our trip and lost most of our stuff - we only saved 2 rolls of films out of about 14 dozen." (2) There is no conclusive evidence that photographs 6 and 7 are from those two salvaged rolls. The negatives are stained, however, possibly due to the film having been immersed in water.

In his letter to Dr. McRuer, Thomson had further complaint: "The weather has been very rotton [sic] all through our trip never dry for more than 24 hours at a time and some times raining for a week steady." And in a newspaper report of the trip it was noted that "owing to the continued rainy weather the lakes and rivers in the north are very high." (3) Perhaps this explains the swollen river we see in these two photographs.

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