September, 2002  Article in The Cottage Times Two artists, two Kindred spirits

The paths of two of northern Ontario's most creative and well-known personalities crossed in 1912 at the Mississagi Forest Reserve, west of Sudbury. Tom Thomson (1877-1917)-"Canada's best-known painter"-met Fire Ranger Archie Belaney (1888-1938), who later became the outstanding environmentalist and author Grey Owl. Archie apparently visited Tom in Tom's studio in Toronto that fall. They were both unknown as artists at the time.

Thomson, who drowned shortly before his 39th birthday, painted only a handful of large paintings and about 400 sketches no larger than a sheet of letter sized paper. Those paintings sell today for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and can now be seen in a major retrospective exhibition of his work at Canada's National Gallery in Ottawa and in Toronto next summer. The latest large book on his life serves as the catalogue for the exhibition and is available in bookstores now.

Archie Belaney became Canada's best-known early environmentalist, wrote several books and numerous articles and lectured to standing room only audiences in Canada, The U.S. and England. The major Hollywood movie on his life, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, was released in 1999.

The two men, who knew each other only briefly, were kindred spirits in many ways. Both are thought of as wilderness men, living close to nature, although Thomson's tenure in the woods was limited to the five years when he was productive as a full-time painter from 1912 until his death in 1917.  While Tom Thomson was painting during this period, Archie was in the army overseas, from 1915 to 1917.

They were alike in many ways, but of course had some distinct differences.  One of the most obvious differences was that Archie/Grey Owl was more assertive, especially with women, and had five "wives" and several children in his brief life. Tom had a few passing relationships and apparently had one serious one with a woman in Algonquin Park, but he was seldom at home and the relationship did not have much of a future.

Both men were alike in that their early deaths both smacked of Hollywood or the soaps. Thomson, whose death was "accidental," is thought by many to have been murdered, and books have been written on theories that have never been proven. The revelation that Archie/Grey Owl was not an Indian was a shock to many.

Both men were similarly independent, itinerant and iconoclastic, and both on occasion had short tempers, especially when drinking. 

Fiery Temper

Thomson on one occasion stormed out of church stating that it was not necessary for a preacher to yell in order to be heard by God, and on another occasion he tore up a cheque in front of a teller when she insisted on identification even though she clearly knew who he was. The two main theories about Tom's death are about people who could have murdered him in anger over his behaviour.

Grey Owl left Biscocasing in a hurry on one occasion because the law was after him for his behaviour. The Grey Owl movie show a scene where Grey Owl gets in a fight with a man who knew him as Archie Belaney and said so loudly. In 1909 at the age of twenty one when Algonquin Park was closed to poachers, he on a bet tried to cross the park in mid-winter and was caught doing so by alert park rangers. He fell through the ice and nearly died.

Both men loved the woods, canoeing and fishing. Two photos in the recent Tom Thomson book show two almost identical photos, one of Archie standing with a catch of fish and the other with Tom with an almost identical catch.

Painter Tom Thomson was an avid fisherman. He died under mysterious circumstances on Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park. National Archives of Canada photo. (PA125106)	The clean-cut fellow on the right is Archie Belaney, who would later become known as Gray Owl. Archives of Ontario, Duvall photo.  (C273-1-0-46-23)

Both men were passionate about their art. Thomson, when on a painting binge, painted rapidly and in all kinds of weather. Anahareo left Grey Owl when, among other things, he became so involved in his writing that she was totally ignored.

Grey Owl was exposed as a non-Indian by North Bay Nugget reporter Britt Jessop shortly after his death, even though Jessop had known about it for years. The interest in his life, his marriages, his misrepresentation and in particular his fascinating life with the beautiful and intelligent Mattawa Mohawk, Gertrude Bernard, has taken away from the fact that he was a very successful and capable author and outstanding lecturer and an early environmentalist of great significance. Archie spent the last few years of his life working for the national park service at Prince Albert Park in Saskatchewan at his Beaver Lodge, where he did much of his writing and visited with visitors to the park. Archie, Anahareo and their daughter Dawn are buried near the Beaver Lodge where they lived for a time. Tom Thomson's death has similarly created an aura about him that has led to numerous books, articles and films.

The bottom line with both men should be their remarkable creative contribution and not the details of their lives, and we should be thankful that northern Ontario was blessed with their presence.

The Grey Owl movie is available on VHS and DVD. Most of the books on his life and his own books are still in print. "The Collected Works of Grey Owl," published in 1999, is widely available online and in bookstores.