Tom Thomson Coloring Book

Tom Thomson was an avid outdoorsman, fisherman, and canoeist, spending much of his time as a backcountry guide in Algonquin Park, and painting until the onset of winter would force his return to the city. His approach to capturing the Canadian landscape was an important impetus to the formation of the Group of Seven, after Thomson’s death. The line drawings for this coloring book were traced from reproductions of his powerful, energetic paintings, which are shown in color on the inside covers of this coloring book.

Tom Thomson

Tom Thomson (Canadian, 1877–1917) loved the rough country of northern Ontario. An avid outdoorsman and backcountry guide, he had a brief but brilliant art career profoundly influenced by the Canadian landscape. After a slow beginning as an artist, he found his stride and created hundreds of sketches recording his impressions of the wilderness in small oils remarkable for their vivid color and bold brushwork. Many of Thomson’s paintings were executed in only a few hours but are nonetheless emblematic of Canadian art. Thomson would not live to see the birth of the Group of Seven, yet despite his untimely death in 1917, his name became synonymous with the Group, and together their works have come to symbolize a distinctly Canadian identity.