On Location with the Group of Seven

Tom Thomson Lecture Series

An Illustrated talk by Sue and Jim Waddington

Sue and Jim have tried to locate some of the places that inspired Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven painters. They will discuss how they find the painting sites and what they have learned about the painters and their choice of painting sites.

The members of Group of Seven followed Tom Thomson into the north. Although they worked throughout Canada and produced many of the iconic images that we have of the north, there are very few photographs of the actual scenes that inspired them. One may dine in the Maison Fournaise restaurant in Chatou, France, in the very place that Renoir painted "Luncheon of the Boating Party" and "The Rowers' Lunch" but the sites of Tom Thomson's "Northern River", A.Y. Jackson's "Terre Sauvage" and Franklin Carmichael's "Light and Shadow" are unknown.

Sue is an artist - a traditional rug hooker. In 1977 she was making a rug hooking based on A.Y. Jackson’s painting “Hills, Killarney, Ontario (Nellie Lake).” During a canoe trip in Killarney Provincial Park, Sue and Jim paddled to Nellie Lake and were surprised to find that they could locate the exact spot where Jackson had sat when he did the painting. After this initial success, they have continued to search for other painting locations. Since the artists did not keep detailed records of where they worked, each painting represents a puzzle to be solved. For each of the 150 places that they have located, they have recorded what the view looks like now and have compared it with the artist’s impression of the same scene. Although some spots have been located in towns and villages, they really enjoy finding those places that may only be accessed by canoe.

Jim is a retired physicist who likes maps and the sport of orienteering. He has no artistic talent at all.

This talk will illustrate some of the works that are featured at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection exhibition "Following in the Footsteps of the Group of Seven". Art works that were made in the beautiful La Cloche hills of Killarney Provincial Park will be presented along with the photographs of the same scenes.