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Catalogue entry
1916-1917.06
Snow in October
Alternate titles: First Fall of Snow; First Snow; Snow in Autumn; Snow Pattern
Winter 1916–17
Oil on canvas
32 5/16 x 34 9/16 in. (82.1 x 87.8 cm)
Provenance
Estate of the artist
Dr. J.M. MacCallum, Toronto, by 1926
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (4722). Bequest of Dr. J.M. MacCallum, Toronto, 1944
Exhibition History
1919 Thomson
Arts Club, Montreal, Exhibition of Paintings by the Late Tom Thomson, March 1, 1919, no. 55, as First Fall of Snow. Traveled to: Art Association of Montreal, Montreal, March 25–April 12, 1919.1920 Thomson
Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by Tom Thomson, February 13–29, 1920, no. 31, as Snow Pattern.1921 Thomson
Women's Art Association, Toronto, January 1921.1926 AGT Inaugural
Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Inaugural Exhibition, January 29–February 28, 1926, no. 257, as Snow in Autumn, lent by MacCallum.1927 Paris
Musée & du Jeu de Paume, Paris, Exposition d'art canadien, April 10–May 10, 1927, no. 232.1930 AFA
American Federation of Arts, Corcoran Art Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Exhibition of Paintings by Contem¬porary Canadian Artists under the Auspices of the American Federation of Arts, March 9–30, 1930, no. 56, as First Snow. Traveled to: Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, April 1930; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, April 4–May 28, 1930; Grand Central Art Galleries, New York, June 1930; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, July 1930; City Art Museum, St. Louis, August 1930.1932 Thomson
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Imperial Economic Conference, July 18, 1932–January 23, 1933, no. 11.1941 Thomson
Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Horatio Walker - Tom Thomson, January 1941, as First Snow.1954 VAG
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Group of Seven, March 29–April 25, 1954, no. 66, (repr.)1955 Thomson
National Gallery of Canada, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Tom Thomson Travelling Exhibition: Sketches and Painting from the National Gallery of Canada Collection, November 10–December 6, 1955. Traveled to: Calgary Allied Arts Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, December 13, 1955–January 1, 1956; University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, February 2–22, 1956; Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, March 1–8, 1956; Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, March 13–25, 1956; University of British Columbia, Fine Arts Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, April 3–28, 1956; Regina Public Library, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, May 5–25, 1956; Saskatoon Art Centre, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, June 1–21, 1956; Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, July 1–30, 1956; Sarnia Public Library, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, August 1956; Kitchener-Waterloo Art Association, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, October 8, 1956; Yarmouth Art Society, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, October 31–November 12, 1956; Colchester Chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (I.O.D.E.), Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada, November 15–24, 1956; Louisburg Chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (I.O.D.E.), Louisburg, Nova Scotia, November 27–December 6, 1956; Amherst Art Association, Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada, December 10, 1956–December 24, 1965; Moncton Society of Art, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, January 24–February 2, 1957; Fredericton Art Club, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, February 6–20, 1957; University of New Brunswich, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, February 20–March 6, 1957; Art Centre, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, March 9–20, 1957; Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, April 4–18, 1957; Nova Scotia College of Art, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, April 18–May 1, 1957; Glenhyrst Gardens, Brantford, Ontario, Canada, June 22–July 2, 1957; London Public Library and Art Museum, London, Ontario, July–September 1957; Willistead Library and Art Gallery, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, October 1–November 5, 1957; Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, November 15–December 15, 1957.1956 Thomson
Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Tom Thomson Exhibition, 1877 - 1917, September–October 1956, no. 1.1957 Thomson London
London Public Library and Art Museum, London, Ontario, Tom Thomson 1877 - 1917, George Thomson 1868 -, July 6–September 6, 1957, no. 34, as lent by the Art Gallery of Toronto?1957 Thomson Windsor
Willistead Art Gallery, Windsor, Tom Thomson 1877 - 1917, October 6–November 2, 1957, no. 7.1958 Los Angeles
National Gallery of Canada, Canadian Cultural Exhibition, Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, Tom Thomson, January–March 1958.1967 NGC (1)
Willistead Art Gallery, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, Canadian Painting 1850 - 1950, January 8–February 12, 1967, no. 31. Traveled to: London Art Gallery, London, Ontario, February 17–March 26, 1967; Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, April 1–May 7, 1967; Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, May 12–June 10, 1967; Rothmans Art Gallery of Stratford, Stratford, Ontario, Canada, June 16–July 30, 1967; Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, August 9–September 9, 1967; Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, September 15–October 10, 1967; Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, October 20–November 18, 1967; Confederation Art Centre, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, November 30–December 30, 1967; The New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, January 15–February 15, 1968; Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, February–March 1968; Musée du Québec, Québec City, March 15–April 14, 1968.1969 MacCallum
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, The MacCallum Bequest of Paintings by Tom Thomson and Other Canadian Painters & the Mr. and Mrs. H.R. Jackman Gift of Murals from the Late Dr. MacCallum's Cottage Painted by Some of the Members of the Group of Seven, January 25–February 23, 1969, no. 77, as 1914-16.1971 Thomson
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, The Art of Tom Thomson, October 30–December 12, 1971, no. 106, (repr.) 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, 1972.1974 Spokane
Bureau International des Expositions, Spokane, Washington, Our Land, Our Sky, Our Water: An Exhibition of American and Canadian Art Organized by Alfred Frankenstein on the Occasion of the International Exposition, May 4–November 3, 1974, no. 112.1977 Thomson
Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery and Museum of Fine Art, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, The Tom Thomson Memorial Exhibition, May 4–June 1, 1977, no. 6.1993 Dallas
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Museum of the Americas, September 26, 1993–September 26, 1994.2001 Beijing
National Gallery of Canada, Yan- Huang Museum of Art, Beijing, Terre sauvage: The Canadian Landscape and the Group of Seven, April 19–May 20, 2001, no. 63, (repr. col.) Traveled to: Shanghai Museum of Art, Shanghai, June 2–24, 2001; Guangdong Museum of Art, Guang-zhou, China, July 10–August 10, 2001; Guanshanyue Art Gallery, Shenzhen, China, August 20–September 23, 2001.2002 Thomson
National Gallery of Canada; Art Gallery of Ontario, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Tom Thomson, June 7–September 8, 2002, no. 123, (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, 2003.2004 St. Petersburg
Art Gallery of Ontario, Alexander Hall, The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, Tom Thomson, September 10–November 14, 2004, no. 53.Published References
Fairbairn 1920
Fairbairn, Margaret L. "Memorial Exhibition to Artist of North." Toronto Daily Star, 18 February 1920, as Snow Pattern.Fairbairn 1921
Fairbairn, Margaret L. "Tom Thomson Pleases with Canadian Scenes." Toronto Daily Star, 22 January 1921.A.M.D. 1927
"Canadian Art Exhibit, Place de la Concorde." Montreal Daily Star, 7 May, 1927.Simmins 1956
Simmons, Richard. "Major Work by Thomson Now on Display at Library." LeaderPost (Regina), 10 May 1956.Swinton 1956
Swinton, George. "Tom Thomson Exhibit." Winnipeg Tribune, 7 February 1956.Hubbard 1960b
Hubbard, R.H. National Gallery of Canada, Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. Vol. III, Canadian School. Ottawa, Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1960, p. 310 (repr.)Reid 1969
Reid, Dennis. The MacCallum Bequest of Paintings by Tom Thomson and Other Canadian Painters & the Mr. and Mrs. HR. Jackman Gift of the Murals from the Late Dr. MacCallum's Cottage Painted by Some Members of the Group of Seven. Ottawa: The National Gallery of Canada, 1969. Exhibition catalogue, p. 47.Mellen 1970
Mellen, Peter. The Group of Seven. Toronto, Montreal: McClelland and Stewart Ltd., 1970, pp. 45, 46 (repr.)Boggs 1971
Boggs, Jean Sutherland. The National Gallery of Canada. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1971, pl. 126 (repr.)Murray 1971
Murray, Joan. The Art of Tom Thomson. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1971. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 44, 86 (repr.)Town & Silcox 1977
Town, Harold, and David P. Silcox. Tom Thomson: The Silence and the Storm. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1977, pp. 114, 181 (repr. col.)Laing 1979
Laing, G. Blair. Memoirs of an Art Dealer. Vol. 1. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1979, p. 70.Stacey 1980
Stacey, Robert. "Contact in Context: The Influence of Scandinavian Landscape Painting on
Canadian Artists Before and After 1913." Northward Journal 18/19 (November 1980), p. 51 (repr.)Boulet 1982
Boulet, Roger. The Canadian Earth: Landscape Paintings by the Group of Seven. Toronto: Prentice-Hall, 1982, pp. 212–213 (repr. col.)Martinsen 1984
Martinsen, Hanna. "The Scandinavian Impact on the Group of Seven's Vision of the Canadian
Landscape." Konsthistorisk Tidskrift 53 (1984), p. 5 (repr.)Murray 1984
Murray, Joan. The Best of the Group of Seven. Edmonton, AB: Hurtig, 1984, p. 44 as c. 1915 (repr. col.)Reid and Hill 2002
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. 139, 278 (repr. col.)Silcox 2002
Silcox, David P. Tom Thomson: An Introduction to his Life and Art. Toronto: Firefly Books, 2002, p. 21 (repr. col.)Murray 2011
Murray, Joan. A Treasury of Tom Thomson. Vancouver, Toronto, Berkeley: Douglas & McIntyre, 2011, pp. 28, 124–125 (repr. col.)Remarks
Dr. J.M. MacCallum mentions his delight in the way Thomson painted the shadows in the picture in a letter to H.O. McCurry, 14 August 1938, in the National Gallery of Canada Archives, 5. 4-Century of Canadian Art, 1938, file 4 (I am indebted to Charles C. Hill, Tom Thomson (2002), fn 161, 333, for this observation). A.Y. Jackson discusses the painting in letters of 1940 to H.O. McCurry, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Curatorial accession files.
Record last updated February 16, 2016. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Murray, Joan. ""Snow in October, Winter 1916–17 (1916-1917.06)." In Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné. www.tomthomsoncatalogue.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=625 (accessed on May 3, 2025).