West wind: the story of Tom Thomson

Tom Thomson’s jack pine, painted against a background of lake and sky, has come to symbolize the Canadian North. This film outlines the story of Tom Thomson’s brief life (1877-1917) and career, which began in Toronto, where he worked as a commercial artist. Weekend sketching trips in the country turned into longer journeys farther north, and Thomson finally moved to Algonquin Park, in northern Ontario. When he wasn’t painting and canoeing, he was a park guide. We watch wonderful photography of his favourite landscapes, interspersed with images of the paintings they inspired. Thomson spent less than four years as an artist and was barely 40 when a canoe accident ended his life. Fellow artists Lawren Harris, A.Y. Jackson and Arthur Lismer pay tribute to this genius, who, in Jackson’s words, “contributed more to Canadian painting than any other artist.”