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 

8 Canoeists' camp













9 Northern waters













10 Double exposure: northern lake, I 










11 Double exposure: northern lake, II










Photographs 8, 9 and 10 are included at this point because the negatives are stained in the same manner as those of photographs 6 and 7, perhaps due to the same mishap. Photograph 11 is similar in subject and in accidental effect to photograph 10, and so is also included here. None of the canoeists have been identified.

12 Smallmouth bass Again the negative is stained. 










13 Brook trout and lake trout










14 Lake trout in a reflector oven










15 A lake trout too large for the oven










16 A displayed catch of smallmouth bass













17 Two trout hanging from the tent pole (close-up) 










18 Two trout hanging from the tent pole










Thomson's skill as a fisherman was legendary and, as Blodwen Davies has made clear, the continuation of a family tradition: "Just as his grandfather was the most celebrated fisherman in Pickering and his father in Sydenham, so Thomson's name was a by-word in the north among the fishermen." (4)

A. Y. Jackson, on his first trip to Algonquin Park early in 1914, reported back to J. E. H. MacDonald that: "It appears that Tom Thomson is some fisherman. Quite noted around here." (5) When he finally had a chance to see Thomson in action later in 1914, Jackson reported the amazing news to Dr. MacCallum:

"What he does to those poor fish when he isn't sketching is too awful to relate." (6) Tom Wattie, a ranger who knew him well, stated that Thomson "could cast his line in a perfect figure eight and have the fly land on the water at the exact spot planned." (7)

As well, Ottelyn Addison has pointed out: "There are many accounts of Thomson's skill at camp cooking. His friend, H. B. Jackson, described him as a 'real cook ...Our lake trout was boiled and baked, not fried.'" (8)

As these photographs reveal, Thomson found big healthy fish to be a beautiful sight. Late in life, Dr. MacCallum recalled "a number of small canvases about 12 x  15 is chiefly of fish - I remember them because I thought of trying to sell them for advertising purposes to the C. P. R." (9) They all seem to have disappeared. (l0)

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