1916-1917.15
The West Wind
Alternate title: West Wind, Algonquin Park
Winter 1916–17
Oil on canvas
47 1/2 x 54 5/16 in. (120.7 x 137.9 cm)
Provenance
Exhibition History
Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto, Canadian National Exhibition Department of Fine Arts, August 25–September 10, 1917, no. 214, (repr.), as West Wind, Algonquin Park.
Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by Tom Thomson, February 13–29, 1920, no. 41.
Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, Paintings by the "Group of Seven" Canadian Artists, November 7, 1920, no. 30. Traveled to: Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, December 1–31, 1920; Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York, January 1–February 15, 1921 (as A Collection of Oil Painting by the Canadian "Group of Seven" and Water Colors by Nine American Artists); Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, March 1921 (as Oil Paintings by "Group of Seven" Canadian Artists: Work of Mahoning Society of Painters, Youngstown, Ohio, Pictorial Photographs of Greece); Art Association of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, April 1921 (as Exhibition of Paintings by Canadian Artists); Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, June 1921; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, July 8–August 29, 1921; Buffalo Fine Arts Academy Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, September 10–October 3, 1921 (as Three Special Exhibitions: Paintings of China by Frederick Clay Bartlett, Paintings of Louise Upton Brumback, Paintings by the 'Group of Seven" Can); Columbus Art Association, Columbus, Ohio, October 1921 (as Paintings by the "Group of Seven" Canadian Artists); Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota, December 1921; Hackley Gallery of Art, Muskegon, Michigan, January 1922.
Ontario Society of Artists, Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Retrospective Loan Exhibition of the Works of Members of the Ontario Society of Artists Covering the First Half-Century of the Society's History, February 11–March 12, 1922, no. 170.
British Empire, Palace of Fine Arts, Wembley Park, London, British Empire Exhibition, Section of Fine Arts, April 23–October 31, 1924, no. 239. Traveled to: Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, November 12–December 12, 1924; Kelvingrove Art Galleries, Glasgow, United Kingdom, December 1924–January 17, 1925; City of Birmingham Municipal Art Gallery, Birmingham, United Kingdom, January 30–March 31, 1925.
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Special Exhibition of Canadian Art, January 21–February 28, 1926, no. 62.
Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Inaugural Exhibition, January 29–February 28, 1926, no. 259.
Philadelphia, Paintings, Sculpture and Prints in the Department of Fine Arts, Sesquicentennial International Exposition, July 24, 1926, no. 1550.
Musée & du Jeu de Paume, Paris, Exposition d'art canadien, April 10–May 10, 1927, no. 230.
Nutana Collegiate Institute, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, November 11–12, 1927.
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Imperial Economic Conference, July 18, 1932–January 23, 1933, no. 2.
Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, The Permanent Collection of Oil and Water Colour Paintings as Arranged for Exhibition, Summer, 1935, July 6, 1935, no. 69.
Art Gallery of Toronto, Loan Exhibition of Paintings Celebrating the Opening of the Margaret Eaton Gallery and the East Gallery, November 8, 1935, no. 154.
Gold Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, Contemporary Art, 1939, no. 24.
Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Horatio Walker - Tom Thomson, January 1941.
Elsie Perrin Williams Memorial Public Library & Art Museum, London, Ontario, Milestones of Canadian Art: A Retrospective Exhibition of Canadian Art from Paul Kane and Kreighoff to the Contemporary Painters, from 9 January 1942, no. 42.
Navy League of Canada (Ontario Division), Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Loan Exhibition of Great Paintings in Aid of Allied Merchant Seamen, February 4–March 5, 1944, no. 74.
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, Canadian Art, 1760 - 1943, March 11–April 16, 1944.
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, [unknown title], November 16, 1944–January 1, 1945. (repr.)
Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto, Canadian Painting and Sculpture Owned by Canadians, August 27–September 11, 1948, no. 20.
Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Inaugural Exhibition, December 1953–January 1954, no. 51, (repr.)
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Group of Seven, March 29–April 25, 1954, no. 63, (repr.)
Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Comparisons: An Exhibition Organized by the Art Gallery of Toronto, January 11–February 3, 1957, no. 78.
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Images for a Canadian Heritage, September 1966, no. 70.
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Three Hundred Years of Canadian Art, May 12–September 17, 1967, no. 200, (repr.) Traveled to: Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, October 20–November 26, 1967.
Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, First Anniversary Exhibition, May 24–June 9, 1968, no. 7.
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, The Group of Seven, June 19–September 8, 1970, no. 68, (repr.) Traveled to: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, September 22–October 31, 1970.
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, The Art of Tom Thomson, October 30–December 12, 1971, 0, no. XVI (repr. col.) Traveled to: Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, January 15–February 3, 1972; Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, February 25–March 31, 1972; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, April 14–May 28, 1972; Confederation Art Gallery, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, July 2–September 5, 1972.
Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery and Museum of Fine Art, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, The Tom Thomson Memorial Exhibition, May 4–June 1, 1977, no. 1.
National Gallery of Canada, National Museum of Art, Tokyo, Twentieth Century Canadian Painting, July 9–August 2, 1981, no. 26, (repr. col.) Traveled to: Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, August 29–September 20, 1981; Oita Prefectural Art Centre, Oita, Japan, October 1–28, 1981.
Akademie der Künste, Berlin, OKANADA, December 5, 1982–January 30, 1983, no. 59. Traveled to: Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart, Germany, February 8–March 20, 1983.
Norton Gallery and School of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, Masterpieces of Twentieth-Century Canadian Painting, March 18–April 29, 1984. (repr. col.)
Barbican Art Gallery, London, The True North: Landscape Painting 1896 - 1939, April 19–June 16, 1991, no. 113, (repr. col.)
National Gallery of Canada; Art Gallery of Ontario, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Tom Thomson, June 7–September 8, 2002, no. 131, (repr. col.) Traveled to: Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, October 5, 2002–January 5, 2003; Musée du Québec, Quebec City, February 6–April 3, 2003; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, May 30–September 7, 2003; Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, September 29–December 7, 2003.
Art Gallery of Ontario, Alexander Hall, The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, Tom Thomson, September 10–November 14, 2004, no. 54, (repr.col.)
Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, October 19, 2011–January 8, 2012, no. 8, Fig. 22, Pl. 12 (repr. col.) Traveled to: National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway, January 29–May 13, 2012; The Groninger Museum, Groninger, the Netherlands, June 3–October 28, 2012.
Published References
"French, Italian and Canadian Paintings at the Exhibition." Globe (Toronto), 27 August 1917.
MacCallum, J.M. "Tom Thomson: Painter of the North." Canadian Magazine 50, no. 5 (March 1918), p. 383 (repr.)
Jacob, Fred R. "How Canadian Art Got Its Real Start." Toronto Sunday World, 9 April 1922, (repr.)
Hind, C. Lewis. "Art and Artists: Canadian Landscape Painters at Wembley." The International Interpreter (New York) 3, no. 8 (24 May 1924), p. 250.
National Gallery of Canada. Press Comments on the Canadian Selection of Fine Arts, British Empire Exhibition. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1924, pp. 15, 20–21.
Brown, Eric, and Fred R. Jacob. A Portfolio of Canadian Art Reproducing Important Canadian
Paintings by Cornelius Krieghoff, Otto R. Jacobi, Paul Kane, Daniel Fowler, William
Brymner, Paul Peel, Blair Brice, Paul Bruce, Frederick M. Bell-Smith, James Wilson
Morrice and Tom. Toronto: Rous and Mann Ltd., 1926, (repr. col.)
"Inaugural Exhibition at the Art Gallery of Toronto." Canadian Science Monitor (8 March 1926).
"Painting Purchased by Canadian Club for New Galleries." Evening Telegram (Toronto), 4 February 1926.
Harris, Lawren. "Review of the Toronto Art Gallery Opening." Canadian Bookman 8, no. 2 (February 1926), p. 46.
Housser, Frederick Broughton. A Canadian Art Movement: The Story of the Group of Seven. Toronto: Macmillan Company of Canada Limited, 1926, pp. 117, 120, 211, 218 (repr.)
National Gallery of Canada. Press Comments on the Canadian Section of Fine Arts, British Empire Exhibition,
1924-1925. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1926, pp. 13, 17, 34.
Pringle, Gertrude. "Tom Thomson, the Man, Painter of the Wilds, Was a Very Unique Individuality." Saturday Night 41, no. 21 (10 April 1926).
R.B.M. "Local Artists Have Pictures Purchased to Be Hung in Canadian National Gallery." Ottawa Journal (22 January 1926).
"Tom Thomson's Aged Father Typifies Son's Rugged Scenes." Toronto Daily Star, 4 February 1926.
Lismer, Arthur. "The Art Gallery of Toronto." The Journal, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada 3, no. 2 (March/April 1926), p. 71.
"Variety Marks Display of Canadian Paintings." Toronto Daily Star, 21 January 1926.
Perry, S.W. "Studies in Canadian Art: The West Wind by Tom Thomson." School 17, no. 3 (November 1928).
Davies, Blodwen. Paddle and Palette: The Story of Tom Thomson. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1930, pp. 16–17 (repr.)
Salinger, Jehanne Bietry. "Canadian Art is Applauded by United States Experts." Toronto Star Weekly, 15 March 1930, (repr.)
Davies, Blodwen. "Tom Thomson and the Canadian Mood." New Outlook 6, no. 35 (27 August 1930), p. 826.
McLennan, Mary Louise. Children's Artist Friends. Toronto: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1931, pp. 1–3 (repr.)
Grayson, E.V.K. Picture Appreciation for the High School. Toronto: J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd., 1932, pp. 120–23 (repr.)
Robson, Albert H. Canadian Landscape Painters. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1932, p. 147 (repr. col.)
MacCallum, H.R. "The Group of Seven: A Retrospect." Queen's Quarterly 40, no. 2 (May 1933), p. 248.
Lismer, Arthur. "The West Wind." McMaster Monthly 43, no. 4 (January 1934), pp. 163–64 (repr. col.)
Davies, Blodwen. A Study of Tom Thomson: The Story of a Man Who Looked for Beauty and for
Truth in the Wilderness. Toronto: The Discus Press, 1935, pp. 73, 96, 104 (repr. col.)
Buckman, Edward. "With Canadian Pioneers." Magazine of Art 30, no. 9 (September 1937), p. 569 (repr.)
Mulligan, H.H. "Canada's National Painter." Canadian Comment 6, no. 4 (April 1927), (repr.)
Robson, Albert H. Tom Thomson. , Canadian Art Series. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1937, pp. 10–11 (repr. col.)
Storm, Rey H.J. "Depth of Feeling in Thompson [sic] Art." Windsor Star, 17 September 1938, (repr.)
Lismer, Arthur. Canadian Picture Study. Toronto: Art Gallery of Toronto, 1940, p. 19B20 (repr. col.)
"The Crown of the Year: Tom Thomson." New World Illustrated 11, no. 11 (December 1941), (repr.)
Shoolman, Regina, and Charles E. Slatkin. The Enjoyment of Art in America. Philadelphia and New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1942, pp. 693, pl. 710.
McRae, D.G.W. The Arts and Crafts of Canada. Toronto: Macmillan Company of Canada Ltd., 1944, p. 49 (repr.)
Buchanan, Donald W. Canadian Painters from Paul Kane to the Group of Seven. Oxford & London: Phaidon Press, 1945, p. 12.
Colgate, William. "Tom Thomson, Artist, Knew Wind Direction." Globe and Mail (Toronto), 24 April 1945.
MacFarlane, M.A. "'West Wind' Approved for Thomson's Picture' (letter to the editor)." Globe and Mail (Toronto), 28 April 1948.
Mayfair. "Canadian Landscape Painting Through the Years." Mayfair 21, no. 5 (May 1947), (repr.)
Saunders, Audrey. Algonquin Story. Toronto: Department of Lands and Forests, 1947, pp. 4, 173 (repr. col.)
Fifty Years and the Future. Toronto: Art Gallery of Toronto, 1950, p. 28 (repr.)
Buchanan, Donald W. The Growth of Canadian Painting. London and Toronto: Collins, 1950, fig. 18 (repr.)
Walker, Harold C., A.J. Casson, Martin Baldwin and Sydney J. Key. "Fifty Years of Collecting." The Journal, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada 27, no. 1 (January 1950), p. 22 (repr.)
Lismer, Arthur. "Tom Thomson (1877-1917): Canadian Painter." The Education Record of the Province of Quebec 80, no. 3 (July-September 1954), p. 171.
Little, R.P. "Some Recollections of Tom Thomson and Canoe Lake." Culture 16, no. 2 (June 1955), p. 203.
Jackson, A.Y. A Painter's Country: The Autobiography of À.Y. Jackson. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin & Co., 1958, p. 44.
Painting and Sculpture: Illustrations of Selected Paintings and Sculpture from the
Collection. Toronto: Art Gallery of Toronto, 1959, (repr. col.)
Hubbard, R.H. The Gallery of Canadian Art, 2 Tom Thomson. Toronto: Society For Art Publications and McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1962, pp. 11, pl. 12.
Hubbard, R.H. The Development of Canadian Art. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1963, p. 91.
Brieger, Peter G., Stephen Vickers, and Frederick E. Winter. Art and Man: The Modern World Vol. III. Toronto: Hold, Rinehart and Winston, 1964, p. 182 (repr.)
Harper, J. Russell. Painting in Canada: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1955, p. 282.
Davies, Blodwen. Tom Thomson: The Story of a Man Who Looked for Beauty and for Truth in the
Wilderness. Vancouver: Mitchell Press Limited, 1967, page facing 41, 76, 82–83 (repr. col.)
Addison, Ottelyn, Elizabeth Harwood. Tom Thomson, The Algonquin Years. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1969, pp. 54–56, 59, 78, 93 (repr.)
Bradfield, Helen. Art Gallery of Ontario: The Canadian Collection. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Company of Canada Limited, 1970, pp. 447–48, 537 (repr. col.)
Little, William T. The Tom Thomson Mystery. Toronto: McGraw-Hill, 1970, pp. 33–34, 195, 215.
Mellen, Peter. The Group of Seven. Toronto, Montreal: McClelland and Stewart Ltd., 1970, pp. 49, 60–61, 208 (repr. col.)
Reid, Dennis. The Group of Seven. Ottawa: The National Gallery of Canada, 1970. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 104–105.
Murray, Joan. The Art of Tom Thomson. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1971. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 45, 56, 64 (repr. col.)
Reid, Dennis. A Concise History of Canadian Painting. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1973, p. 145.
Lord, Barry. Painting in Canada: Towards a People's Art. Toronto: NC Press, 1974, pp. 128–29 (repr.)
Reid. Tom Thomson: The Jack Pine. 5, Masterpieces in the National Gallery of Canada, The National Gallery of Canada. Ottawa: 1975, pp. 18–23.
Town, Harold, and David P. Silcox. Tom Thomson: The Silence and the Storm. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1977, pp. 175, 193 (repr. col.)
Mellen, Peter. The Landmarks of Canadian Art. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Ltd., 1978, pp. 172–73 (repr. col.)
Wistow, David. Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven: Selected Works from the Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1982, pp. 8–9 (repr. col.)
Zemans, Joyce. "Varley: An Appreciation." In Frederick H. Varley. Toronto: Key Porter, 1983, p. 55.
Murray, Joan. The Best of the Group of Seven. Edmonton, AB: Hurtig, 1984, p. 50 (repr. col.)
Nasgaard, Roald. The Mystic North: Symbolist Landscape Painting in Northern Europe and North America 1890-1940. Toronto, Buffalo, London: Art Gallery of Ontario and University of Toronto Press, 1984. Exhibition catalogue, p. 184.
McMichael, Robert. "One Man's Obsession." One Man's Obsession. Scarborough: Prentice-Hall Canada Inc., 1986, pp. 109, 185–186.
Murray, Joan. The Best of Tom Thomson. Edmonton: Hurtig, 1986, pp. 62, 80–81 (repr. col.)
MacGregor, Ron. Canadian Art: Building a Heritage. Scarborough: Prentice-Hall Canada Inc., 1987, p. 58 (repr.)
Murray, Joan. "The Mysteries of The West Wind." Art Impressions 5, no. 1 (Spring 1989), (repr.)
Teitelbaum, Matthew. "Sighting the Single Tree, the New Found Land." In Eye of Nature. Banff: Walter Phillips Gallery, 1991. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 72, 74 n14 (repr.)
Murray, Joan. Northern Lights: Masterpieces of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven. Toronto: Key Porter Books Limited, 1994, pp. 76–77 (repr. col.)
Murray, Joan. Confessions of a Curator: Adventures in Canadian Art. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1996, pp. 115–24.
Davis, Ann. Thomson, Thomas John (Tom). Vol. 14 1911-1920, Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998, pp. 998–99.
Wistow, David, and Kelly McKinley. Meet the Group of Seven. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1999, p. 35 (repr. col.)
Murray, Joan. Canadian Art in the Twentieth Century. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1999, p. 26 (repr. col.)
Murray, Joan. Tom Thomson: Trees. Toronto: McArthur & Company, 1999, pp. 114–15 (repr. col.)
Rhodes, Richard. A First Book of Canadian Aart. Toronto: Owl Books, 2001, p. 33 (repr. col.)
Reid, Dennis and Charles C. Hill. Tom Thomson. Vancouver/Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre with the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada, 2002. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 83, 139–41, 147, 149, 286–87 (repr. col.)
Silcox, David P. Tom Thomson: An Introduction to his Life and Art. Toronto: Firefly Books, 2002, (repr. col. cover).
Silcox, David P. The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson. Toronto: Firefly Books, 2003, pp. 2 (repr. col.), 49–50, 209, 212.
King, Ross. Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven. Vancouver/Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 2011, pp. 216–217, 218, 219, 221, 263, 349, 403, 406, 415, Pl. 20 (repr. col.), 301 (repr. det.)
Dejardin, Ian. Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and The Group of Seven. London: Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2011. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 18, 30, 31 (repr. col.), 32, 75 (repr. col.), 81, 111.
Murray, Joan. A Treasury of Tom Thomson. Vancouver, Toronto, Berkeley: Douglas & McIntyre, 2011, pp. 128–129 (repr. col.)
Remarks
Many different locations have been suggested for the painting. Dr. MacCallum recalled that it was on a trip to Lake Cauchon which he took with Thomson, Lawren Harris, and Harris’s cousin Chester Harris, that Thomson painted his sketch for that painting, as he wrote in a letter to Miss A.L. Beatty, at the Art Gallery of Toronto, May 14, 1937, (Edward P. Taylor Research Library and Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto). The most recent theory, by Stan Verscay of Bowmanville, is that Thomson painted the sketch at Manitou Lake.
Record last updated January 13, 2016. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Murray, Joan. ""The West Wind, Winter 1916–17 (1916-1917.15)." In Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné. www.tomthomsoncatalogue.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=634 (accessed on May 2, 2024).