Tom Thomson Collection

Photo: Toronto alley, Oct. 2, sundown

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Yesterday afternoon I met schillerium and rfmcdpei for a visit to a little-known exhibit of Canadian artists owned by newspaper magnate Ken Thomson and housed in the Hudson's Bay Company Gallery on the top floor of its Queen Street department store. We had to ascend through a tortuous series of escalators, gradually climbing above the din and recycled air of lower levels like spirits to new levels of consciousness. On one floor we passed through a bizarre white room with plastic surrounding a vague construction project. At last we reached the ninth floor and passed the welcome desk where we learned that fees had been waived for "art week."

The gallery overlooks the eighth-floor Arcadian Court, open since 1929, which Craig schillerium informed us had been the most exclusive dining spot in Toronto in its earlier days. White linen tablecloths were spaced evenly over a floor of white and pale reddish tile. All the high walls were cream-coloured, interspersed with mirrors. Two monstrous chandeliers dangled from the ceiling above us. I felt we had suddenly entered a chapter from a novel. In fact Craig pointed out that it was the setting, in Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin, for Iris's coming out to Toronto high society. It also reminded me of the scene in Timothy Findley's Headhunter where the arch-villainous head psychiatrist goes to see the city's upper crust come and go. But that is set in the now or near future, and the Arcadian Court is clearly a feature of a bygone era.

Then we entered the gallery proper, and I was instantly taken back to my own childhood, sitting at my father's elbow while he painted. My parents were great enthusiasts of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, some of Canada's most distinctive painters. This gallery was dedicated to their works, along with those of associate artist Emily Carr. Greeting us in the entrance was Lawren Harris's Houses, Richmond Street, 1911, one of the group's most famous paintings, and one I recognized from art books my parents owned.

The Group of Seven clearly took its inspiration from European Impressionists a generation earlier. They employed think brush strokes of pure colour, rather than subtly-blended washes. They set out to paint the Canadian wilderness, previously considered too wild and rugged to be painted, and succeeded in establishing a style uniquely Canadian. Tom Thomson is perhaps the most famous of the group, however he died mysteriously in Algonquin Park and was not alive when the Group of Seven officially formed after World War I. His most famous works were not present in this gallery.

Impressionism broke away from drawing its inspiration from historical sources and instead sought beauty in the here and now. The masters of the movement were skilled at portraying a sense of time and place, and were particularly interested in the way light played over the surfaces of the landscape. Their paintings were not concerned with details but with the overall effect. These Canadian artists mastered the same techniques, and gave them a peculiar earthy expression. A.Y. Jackson's The Stream St. Tite des Caps, 1934 depicts a snowy hillside in which all colours are reflected: yellow, green, blue, purple, shading into pink. The French Impressionists apparently learned to use blue in the reflection of daylight on surfaces by observing the blue reflections on snow, but Jackson saw a far wider palette. Seeing Franklin Carmichael's Wild Cherry, depicting blobs of pale light on blossoms under the dark shadow of conifers, I was immediately reminded of Whistler's Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket. Unfortunately, few of the paintings in the Tom Thomson collection are found online.

Hints of surrealism are also evident, particularly in Harris's stark portrayals of Lake Superior's northern shore. Islands, water, tree trunks and the play of winter light seem to acquire iconographic qualities. These were also evident in some of Franklin Carmichael's bizarre cloudscapes over mountainous territory. I felt the painters had gone beyond a bare interpretation of the landscape to stab at something more Freudian, vaguely frightening. The empty wilderness is on of Canada's unique and more daunting aspects—one still available for our experience—and the expressions of these artists 80 years ago is still meaningful today.

I would be remiss in not mentioning Emily Carr, who was inspired and admired by the Group of Seven. Her works are particularly noted for describing the British Columbia temperate rain forest and the Native West Coast culture with which she associated. Her paintings were even more daring and surreal. The wooded landscapes stream with intense energy, auras of light tearing through trees as if torn by hurricane winds. It's a highly personal view of the serene forests I have seen. I was disappointed by the examples of Carr's work in this exhibit, however; less ambitious than ones I know. Admittedly, several of them had a sketchy quality, which was characteristic of Impressionism and the Canadian artists in this group, but in some of Carr's paintings it is carried to an extreme beyond my tastes.

A collection of Cornelius Krieghoff paintings, while less interesting artistically, is famous for its documentation of early Canadian life, portraying Natives, couriers-des-bois and settlers in their landscape.

I was also intrigued to discover the work of Homer Watson, an earlier artist who seemed inspired by John Constable. Watson portrayed the Southern Ontario landscapes where I have lived my life, but which were overlooked by the Group of Seven. His work reveals interesting similarities between this agricultural region and Constable country in Suffolk, England.

Upon leaving, we learned that the gallery will close on October 16. This private collection including many other works not on display, about 3,000 altogether, has been donated to the Art Gallery of Ontario along with funding to build new accommodations for the paintings. The will likely be inaccessible for several years. If you live in the area and enjoy the Group of Seven, Thomson and Carr, take time to pay a visit in the next two weeks.