The West Wind: Tom Thompson’s Georgian Bay

The West Wind: Tom Thomson’s Georgian Bay. Georgian Bay paintings by Tom Thomson, including the trestle bridge in Parry Sound.

The current cultural landscape is cluttered with “celebrities” whose shelf life can be measured in a matter of months. There is one Canadian celebrity however, whose memory has endured for nearly a century. He is the iconic artist Tom Thomson, regarded by many as the godfather of the equally renowned Group of Seven. A new remarkable feature-length documentary called West Wind: the Vision of Tom Thomson, examines and celebrates the life, legacy and mystery of one of Canada’s most beloved artists.
Tom Thomson has largely been associated with Algonquin Park, where he did most of his major works, but he also spent time on our home waters of Georgian Bay.
In fact Thomson grew up on the Bay, in the small farming community of Leith, a short distance north of Owen Sound, then a major Georgian Bay port and hub of commerce.
It was not until 1914, however, that Thomson “discovered” Georgian Bay’s eastern coast that is so familiar to us. A Go-Home Bay cottager, Dr. James MacCallum, was an enthusiastic supporter of the arts and a patron of Thomson. He invited Thomson on a camping trip up the rugged and spectacular French River and to his cottage on West Wind Island.
After spending several weeks in Go Home Bay, Thomson returned to his customary hunting (or rather painting) grounds of Algonquin Park by his preferred mode of travel, the canoe. A rugged chap, was our Mr. Thomson. Most of us would today be daunted by a canoe journey that took one back up the shore to the French River, up the river itself through Lake Nipissing, and into the northerly limits of the park.
And as Thomson paddled he painted. His work methods would be considered unique
in today’s digital age. Among his supplies were 8-by-10-inch wood panels, on which he would quickly render an oil sketch that captured the colour, light and movement of the moment. As a matter of economy, he used both sides of his panels, and many of his sketches were so exquisite that the rest of us would be pleased to present as finished work. In Thomson’s case, they were simply studies for major works to be painted in his Toronto studio. A fine collection of these sketches is housed at Laurentian University in Sudbury.
West Wind takes the viewer to various locations on Georgian Bay where Thomson visited and painted. Go-Home Bay, of course, is represented, and is the locale of Pine Island, the subject of one of Thomson’s most celebrated canvases. Another notable work, Byng Inlet, was sketched behind Geroux Island Lighthouse. And Parry Sound is not neglected; Thomson did a sketch of the windy harbour as viewed from a spot just north of the Town Dock. And as so many Parry Sound artists have done, Thomson painted a beautiful sketch of the trestle bridge.
Since it’s premier last October at the Vancouver Film Festival, West Wind has been shown in England, Holland, and Norway, as well as locations across Canada. Thanks to the efforts of Alan and Charlotte Stein, Parry Sound is to join that privileged company
on Wednesday, August 15, at the Stockey Centre, at 7 pm. The film is also being screened as fundraisers for the Georgian Bay Land Trust this summer and fall, at MacGregor Bay, Pointe-au-Baril, the Iron City Club, and Midland.
In connection with West Wind, there is a stubborn and unsolved mystery that a reader may be able to help us with.
Rewinding back to 1914, Thomson was paddling north on his way to Algonquin Park when he encountered another canoeist, a certain Ernest Freure, near Sans Souci. Thomson asked for directions to Rose Point and Freure invited him to stay the night on “his” island, a sojourn that turned into five nights. In appreciation, Thomson gave Freure one of his oil sketches.
Nancy Lang, a co-producer of West Wind, contacted me back in February to see if I could locate Freure’s island as a matter of historical interest.
I searched the entire Sans Souci area at the Land Titles office, but found no property registered to Ernest Freure, so it is likely that Freure simply “adopted” an island. Perhaps someone could help us find it!
West Wind: the Vision of Tom Thomson will be a major cultural event and a perfect follow-up to the Festival of the Sound. We certainly look forward to it and recommend that you put it on your trusty kitchen calendar.

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