signed & dated
Provenance: Sotheby’s Canada (1987)
Lismer arrived in Canada in January of 1911 from Sheffield, looking for opportunities that had evaded him as an artist in England. He immediately settled in Toronto, joining the Graphic Arts Club, exhibiting with the OSA, and joining the Arts and Letters Club. Here, and at his employer, Grip Ltd., he met the artists who would become his co-founders of the Group of Seven.
Influenced by his new landscape and moved by the unique works of Canadian artists, like A.Y. Jackson’s “Edge of Maple Wood”, Lismer quickly abandonned traditional English watercolour. During his first years in Canada, Lismer would accompany his new colleagues on weekend sketching trips. Much of Lismer’s early sketching was done with Tom Thomson in and around Toronto and the areas to the north.
This rare, early work reflects Lismer’s earliest impressions of his new landscape and his evolving artistic sensibilities. A similar work, “Tom Thomson’s Camp” (1914) can be found at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario (acc. #1966.16.113).
