Tom Thomas - Canadian Atists

Thomas John Thomson (August 5, 1877 – July 8, 1917) was a great influential Canadian artist of early 20th century. Tom Thomson was born near Claremont, Ontario and studied in Leith, near Owen Sound.
Thomson was mainly self-taught. He was then employed as a graphic designer with Toronto’s Grip Ltd., an experience that honed his draughtsmanship. Although he started his painting and drawing at quite early age, it was only in 1912, when Thomson was too much into his thirties, that he began painting very seriously. His first trips to Algonquin Park mainly inspired him to follow the lead of fellow artists in creating oil sketches of natural scenes on small, rectangular panels for easy portability as traveling. Between 1912 and his death in 1917, Thomson made hundreds of these small sketches, many of which are now housed in such beautigul galleries as the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.