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Catalogue entry
Series
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1917.31
Northern Lights
Spring 1917
Oil painting on plywood
8 1/2 x 10 1/2 in. (21.6 x 26.7 cm)
Inscription verso: l.c., in graphite, No. 63 Mrs. Harkness; u.l., in ink, A.M.; c., in black crayon, Sketch #4; u.l, in graphite, #1665 Northern Lights / Tom Thomson; l.l., in graphite, 43; u.c., in graphite, 2
Provenance
Estate of the artist
Elizabeth Thomson Harkness, Annan and Owen Sound
George Thomson, Owen Sound
Mellors Galleries, Toronto, 1939
Alan O. Gibbons, Ottawa, 1939
Heffel Auction, 23 November 2007, lot 26
Private collection, Toronto
Thomson Collection @ Art Gallery of Ontario
Exhibition History
1937 Thomson
Mellors Galleries, 759 Yonge Street, Toronto, Loan Exhibition of Works by Tom Thomson, Mellors Galleries, March 13–31, 1937, no. 6, (?), lent by the artist's family, Owen Sound.1939 Thomson
Mellors Galleries, Toronto, Exhibition of the Work of Tom Thomson and J.E.H. MacDonald, February 1–18, 1939, no. 43.1941 Thomson
Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Horatio Walker - Tom Thomson, January 1941.1959 NGC
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Ottawa Collects, April 1959.1967 NGC (2)
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Three Hundred Years of Canadian Art, May 12–September 17, 1967, no. 199, (repr.) Traveled to: Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, October 20–November 26, 1967.1971 Thomson
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, The Art of Tom Thomson, October 30–December 12, 1971, no. 123, (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. 38.2002 Thomson
National Gallery of Canada; Art Gallery of Ontario, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Tom Thomson, June 7–September 8, 2002, no. 133, (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.Published References
Robson 1937
Robson, Albert H. Tom Thomson. , Canadian Art Series. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1937, pp. 24–25 (repr. col.) as "property of George Thomson".McInnes 1940
McInnes, G.C. "Tom Thomson." New World Illustrated 1, no. 1 (March 1940), (repr.)Saunders 1947
Saunders, Audrey. Algonquin Story. Toronto: Department of Lands and Forests, 1947.Hubbard 1962
Hubbard, R.H. The Gallery of Canadian Art, 2 Tom Thomson. Toronto: Society For Art Publications and McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1962, fig. 28 (repr.)Petrie 1963
Petrie, W. Keoeeit. New York: MacMillan, 1963, (repr. cover).Addison 1969
Addison, Ottelyn, Elizabeth Harwood. Tom Thomson, The Algonquin Years. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1969, pp. 61–62, 67 (repr.)Little 1970
Little, William T. The Tom Thomson Mystery. Toronto: McGraw-Hill, 1970, pp. 27, 198.Mellen 1970
Mellen, Peter. The Group of Seven. Toronto, Montreal: McClelland and Stewart Ltd., 1970, pp. 53–54 (repr. col.)Murray 1971
Murray, Joan. The Art of Tom Thomson. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1971. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 90 (repr.), 96.Town & Silcox 1977
Town, Harold, and David P. Silcox. Tom Thomson: The Silence and the Storm. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1977, p. 173 (repr. col.)Murray 1994a
Murray, Joan. Tom Thomson: The Last Spring. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1994, p. 50 (repr.)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. 141, 147, 289 (repr. col.)Silcox 2003
Silcox, David P. The Group of Seven and Tom Thomson. Toronto: Firefly Books, 2003, p. 285 (repr. col.)Shields, C 2008
Shields, Conal ed. Ken Thomson The Collector: The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Toronto: Skylet Publishing and The Art Gallery of Ontario, 2008, p. 138 (repr.col.)Record last updated February 12, 2016. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Murray, Joan. ""Northern Lights, Spring 1917 (1917.31)." In Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné. www.tomthomsoncatalogue.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=667 (accessed on May 20, 2024).