Studio: international art (77.1919)

STUDIO-TALK

“ THE JACK PINE, LAKE COU-
CHON.” BY TOM THOMSON

motives in the North Country if we frankly
abandoned any attempt after literal paint-
ing, and treating our subjects with the
freedom of the decorative designer, just as
the Swedes had done living in a land with
a topography and climate very similar to
our own. ... We tried to emphasize
colour, line, and pattern even if need be at
the sacrifice of atmospheric qualities. It
seemed the only way to make a right use of
the wealth of motives the country offered.”
During that winter Jackson and Thom-
son met, and a bond of sympathy was
established between them immediately.
They agreed to occupy a studio in common,
and later in the summer of 1914 worked
together in Algonquin Park. This associa-

tion was to Thomson incalculably helpful.
From Jackson he undoubtedly learnt a
broader technical dexterity in painting in
oil. He acquired this with astonishing
ease and became almost immediately his
master's equal. Naturally some of his
sketches painted during these few months
are strikingly suggestive in manner of
Jackson; but Thomson was never a mere
imitator, and except for this brief interlude
his painting was never anything but
entirely personal to himself. a a
The larger studio pictures which exhibit
fully his synthetical powers are painted
more smoothly than the sketches, but are
equally distinguished by freedom and
breadth of treatment, notwithstanding that

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