WoodNCanvas
LOVES Wooden Canoes
I've posted this previously on my blog and would appreciate input from WCHA forum members. I've been unable to find much on the make and model of Canadian artist Tom Thomson's grey canoe. Years ago the McMichael Art Gallery ran an exhibit on the canoe in art, with several works by Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, with a similar exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario a few years later; the Canadian Canoe Museum was also present with a display at the AGO....but I saw no definitive comment on Tom's canoe. Any thoughts by WCHA forum members. Here's what I wrote on the blog:
Mike Elliot in his Canoeguy’s Blog, http://canoeguybc.wordpress.com/, has run several posts on the Chestnut canoes in Bill Mason’s films. One of the things that caught my attention was Mike’s comment on the “original factory colour” of the Chestnut Prospector as being “grey” (or as Mike terms it “light lichen green”). Of course, I’m pretty sure that the Prospector was available in other colours such as red or green….but it would seem that the basic colour for use by guides, prospectors, surveyors and trappers was indeed “grey”….grey being a more utilitarian colour. Curiously I recall reading that Tom Thomson was identified as using a “grey” canoe. For those of you who are unaware of Tom Thomson, he was a great Canadian artist often associated with the Group of Seven artists so famous for their work in Canadian landscapes. Tom painted from a canoeist’s viewpoint….because he was an accomplished paddler. Tom spent a lot of time in Algonquin not only painting but also guiding….in fact it was in Algonquin on Canoe Lake that Tom’s body was found in July 1917 shortly after he had gone missing and his canoe was first found capsized upside down….Tom was found with fishing line wrapped around his leg and an apparent head injury….yet still it was determined that he had hit his head and accidentally drowned….but there is much speculation about other causes of death including murder or even suicide and a possible lovers’ triangle. But no matter how he died or why, Tom Thomson is one of the icons of Canadian canoeing….especially for his fine art of the Canadian wilderness. For more on Tom Thomson see these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Thomson
http://www.bushwhacker.ca/thomson.html
http://www.tomthomsonproject.com/
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/bios/Thomson.html
http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/docs/bio_artistid5427_e.jsp
http://www.tomthomson.org/page.php?page=91
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/thomson/home/indexen.html
http://doncharbonneau.com/fr_tomthomson.cfm
Now I have already mentioned Tom Thomson’s grey canoe. Here is a picture of the “grey canoe”:
Tom Thomson in his “grey canoe”….Alginquin Park. Picture from Don Charbonneau’s website, http://doncharbonneau.com/fr_tomthomson.cfm.
Tom included the image of a grey canoe in a couple of his paintings….could this be the same grey canoe as shown in the above photo.
In December 2005 Joyner Waddington held an auction of works by Lawren Harris (a member of the Group of Seven) and Tom Thomson. These included a little-known oil sketch, by Tom entitled Canoe and Lake, Algonquin Park, which sold for $369,600 (now that would have bought a pile of Chestnut Prospectors LOL LOL).
Image of Tom Thomson’s ‘Canoe and Lake, Algonquin Park’ courtesy Joyner Waddington, http://www.joyner.ca/pages/joyner-auctions/viewlot.php?id=1000696.
Tom Thomson also painted The Canoe in 1914, which is now in the Art Gallery of Ontario, yet another depiction of a grey canoe in Algonquin Park.
Image from Group of Seven Art.com, a fine arts reproduction company, http://www.groupofsevenart.com/Thomson/Images/Tom_Thomson_The_Canoe_1912_GS.jpg.
(Note: This image incorrectly identifies this painting as from 1912.)
So Tom Thomson obviously used a grey canoe….and chances are it was likely a Chestnut Prospector in utilitarian grey. It looks like it could be from the photo….and the date of the 1910s would be right too. So it would seem a Canadian icon used a Canadian icon.
So any ideas from WCHA gang....remember seeing a comment here on WCHA forum on a canoe used by Archie Belaney (Grey Owl) once....but nothing I could find on Tom Thomson's canoe....as I wrote my guess is a Chestnut Prospector....but I think the experts here might have better ideas. If nothing else just a puzzler to begin 2010....Happy New Year!!!!
Mike Elliot in his Canoeguy’s Blog, http://canoeguybc.wordpress.com/, has run several posts on the Chestnut canoes in Bill Mason’s films. One of the things that caught my attention was Mike’s comment on the “original factory colour” of the Chestnut Prospector as being “grey” (or as Mike terms it “light lichen green”). Of course, I’m pretty sure that the Prospector was available in other colours such as red or green….but it would seem that the basic colour for use by guides, prospectors, surveyors and trappers was indeed “grey”….grey being a more utilitarian colour. Curiously I recall reading that Tom Thomson was identified as using a “grey” canoe. For those of you who are unaware of Tom Thomson, he was a great Canadian artist often associated with the Group of Seven artists so famous for their work in Canadian landscapes. Tom painted from a canoeist’s viewpoint….because he was an accomplished paddler. Tom spent a lot of time in Algonquin not only painting but also guiding….in fact it was in Algonquin on Canoe Lake that Tom’s body was found in July 1917 shortly after he had gone missing and his canoe was first found capsized upside down….Tom was found with fishing line wrapped around his leg and an apparent head injury….yet still it was determined that he had hit his head and accidentally drowned….but there is much speculation about other causes of death including murder or even suicide and a possible lovers’ triangle. But no matter how he died or why, Tom Thomson is one of the icons of Canadian canoeing….especially for his fine art of the Canadian wilderness. For more on Tom Thomson see these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Thomson
http://www.bushwhacker.ca/thomson.html
http://www.tomthomsonproject.com/
http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/bios/Thomson.html
http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/docs/bio_artistid5427_e.jsp
http://www.tomthomson.org/page.php?page=91
http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/thomson/home/indexen.html
http://doncharbonneau.com/fr_tomthomson.cfm
Now I have already mentioned Tom Thomson’s grey canoe. Here is a picture of the “grey canoe”:
![385073.jpg](http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o218/ducksoup_photo/385073.jpg)
Tom Thomson in his “grey canoe”….Alginquin Park. Picture from Don Charbonneau’s website, http://doncharbonneau.com/fr_tomthomson.cfm.
Tom included the image of a grey canoe in a couple of his paintings….could this be the same grey canoe as shown in the above photo.
In December 2005 Joyner Waddington held an auction of works by Lawren Harris (a member of the Group of Seven) and Tom Thomson. These included a little-known oil sketch, by Tom entitled Canoe and Lake, Algonquin Park, which sold for $369,600 (now that would have bought a pile of Chestnut Prospectors LOL LOL).
![thomson-canoelake-051207.jpg](http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o218/ducksoup_photo/thomson-canoelake-051207.jpg)
Image of Tom Thomson’s ‘Canoe and Lake, Algonquin Park’ courtesy Joyner Waddington, http://www.joyner.ca/pages/joyner-auctions/viewlot.php?id=1000696.
Tom Thomson also painted The Canoe in 1914, which is now in the Art Gallery of Ontario, yet another depiction of a grey canoe in Algonquin Park.
![thomson-canoe.jpg](http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o218/ducksoup_photo/thomson-canoe.jpg)
Image from Group of Seven Art.com, a fine arts reproduction company, http://www.groupofsevenart.com/Thomson/Images/Tom_Thomson_The_Canoe_1912_GS.jpg.
(Note: This image incorrectly identifies this painting as from 1912.)
So Tom Thomson obviously used a grey canoe….and chances are it was likely a Chestnut Prospector in utilitarian grey. It looks like it could be from the photo….and the date of the 1910s would be right too. So it would seem a Canadian icon used a Canadian icon.
So any ideas from WCHA gang....remember seeing a comment here on WCHA forum on a canoe used by Archie Belaney (Grey Owl) once....but nothing I could find on Tom Thomson's canoe....as I wrote my guess is a Chestnut Prospector....but I think the experts here might have better ideas. If nothing else just a puzzler to begin 2010....Happy New Year!!!!
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