1916-1917.08
Evening, Early Spring
Alternate titles: Birch Grove, Algonquin Park; Birch?; Birches; Birches, Algonquin Park; Evening Early Spring-Birches; Evening-Birches; Silver Birches; Thirty Birches; White Birch Grove
Winter 1916–17
Oil on canvas
21 1/2 x 25 1/2 in. (54.6 x 64.8 cm)
Inscription recto: l.r., TOM THOMSON
Inscription verso: Thirty Birches / Tom Thomson; Evening - Birches Tom Thomson; label, Worcester*
Inscription verso: Thirty Birches / Tom Thomson; Evening - Birches Tom Thomson; label, Worcester*
Private collection
Provenance
Private collection, by descent, 1991
Private Collection
Exhibition History
Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Memorial Exhibition of Paintings by Tom Thomson, February 13–29, 1920, no. 33, as Birch?
Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, Paintings by the "Group of Seven" Canadian Artists, November 7, 1920, no. 29, as Birches. 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.
Laing Galleries, Toronto, A Loan Exhibition: One Hundred Years of Canadian Painting, January 27–February 8, 1959, no. 19, (repr.), as Evening Early Spring-Birches, c. 1917.
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, The Art of Tom Thomson, October 30–December 12, 1971, no. 44, (repr.), as Thirty Birches. 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.
Published References
Murray, Joan. The Art of Tom Thomson. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1971. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 36, 73 as Thirty Birches 1914 (repr.)
Town, Harold, and David P. Silcox. Tom Thomson: The Silence and the Storm. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1977, p. 182 as White Birch Grove (repr. col.)
Murray, Joan. The Best of the Group of Seven. Edmonton, AB: Hurtig, 1984, pp. 46 as The Birch Grove, Algonquin Park (repr. col.)
Silcox, David P. Tom Thomson: An Introduction to his Life and Art. Toronto: Firefly Books, 2002, p. 37 as White Birch Grove (repr. col.)
Silcox, David P. The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson. Toronto: Firefly Books, 2003, p. 237 as White Birch Grove (repr. col.)
Remarks
Other titles under which the work has been known include Thirty Birches, a title given because it was no. 30 in an exhibition (G. Blair Laing in conversation, 4 April 1985), Silver Birches and Birches, Algonquin Park. Thomson painted the sketch for Evening, Early Spring in the spring of 1916, so he would have painted the canvas the following winter; hence, the date.
*Inscriptions and label no longer visible, 2011
Record last updated May 9, 2016. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Murray, Joan. ""Evening, Early Spring, Winter 1916–17 (1916-1917.08)." In Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné. www.tomthomsoncatalogue.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=627 (accessed on February 18, 2026).