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Catalogue entry
© Art Gallery of Ontario
1917.02
Early Spring
Alternate title: Spring
Spring 1917
Oil on wood panel
8 5/16 x 10 1/2 in. (21.1 x 26.7 cm)
Inscription recto: (1970) on frame, 1. Early Spring
Inscription verso: in graphite, lawren Harris / Studio Bldg.; (under label), in graphite, J + H (circled); in ink, S.B.; in graphite, 14 / M. Thomson; in graphite, painted the early spring before Thomson's death
Inscription verso: in graphite, lawren Harris / Studio Bldg.; (under label), in graphite, J + H (circled); in ink, S.B.; in graphite, 14 / M. Thomson; in graphite, painted the early spring before Thomson's death
Provenance
Estate of the artist
Elizabeth Thomson Harkness, Annan and Owen Sound
Margaret Thomson Tweedale, Toronto
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto 849. Gift from the Reuben and Kate Leonard Canadian Fund, 1927
Exhibition History
1937 Thomson
Mellors Galleries, 759 Yonge Street, Toronto, Loan Exhibition of Works by Tom Thomson, Mellors Galleries, March 13–31, 1937, no. 38, lent by the Art Gallery of Toronto. It was possibly 1917.35 that was shown instead of this work.1947 AGT
Art Gallery of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Pictures Purchased by the Albert H. Robson Fund, October 1947.1967 Thomson
Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, May 27–June 11, 1967, no. 5, as Spring.1971 Thomson
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, The Art of Tom Thomson, October 30–December 12, 1971, no. 114, (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, 1972.1995 Thomson
Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Tom Thomson. The Last Spring, May 4, 1995–January 7, 1996, no. 1.Published References
Bradfield 1970
Bradfield, Helen. Art Gallery of Ontario: The Canadian Collection. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Company of Canada Limited, 1970, p. 446 (repr.)Murray 1971
Murray, Joan. The Art of Tom Thomson. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1971. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 48, 89 (repr.)Murray 1994a
Murray, Joan. Tom Thomson: The Last Spring. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1994, p. 27 (repr. col.)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. ""Early Spring, Spring 1917 (1917.02)." In Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné. www.tomthomsoncatalogue.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=638 (accessed on May 1, 2025).