Alan Klinkhoff Gallery is proud to announce the sale of a long-lost Tom Thomson, the last of eight paintings by Thomson from the famous J.S. McLean Collection to be located. Paintings by Thomson are among the rarest and most sought after works of art by a Canadian. River in Spring, painted in the spring of 1916, has remained unseen by the public since it was exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada in 1952. McLean began collecting art in the 1920s, and the painting may have been in his collection since then.
While Tom Thomson paintings are already scarce, the plethora of research and lengthy history of collecting makes the rediscovery of an exceptional example a remarkable occurence today. River in Spring, 1916, also belongs to a much rarer sub-group of paintings signed by Thomson himself. Likely due to its long-term ownership within the same family, details of Spring Break-up were never submitted to Joan Murray while she was in preparation of her important Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonne, which is now in the possession of the Art Gallery of Ontario. Subsequent to her review of the painting, which she described as a “beautiful Thomson”, Murray submitted an addendum to the AGO to accompany.
To acquire a Thomson under these circumstances – exceptional in quality, signed, exhibited, uncatalogued, and with such distinguished provenance – is a landmark event in the art business. We offered to the consignors the benefits of our advantageous selling strategy, including our industry leading web presence serving collectors globally, galleries in Canada’s two largest markets, our experience, as well as transparency, financial efficiency, and price protection.
Tom Thomson is Canada’s most influential artist and was the spiritual leader of the Group of Seven, which formed several years after his death, in the wake of Canada’s sacrifices during WWI. His raw, powerful interpretations of Canada’s natural environment, largely painted en plein air, provided foundational inspiration for the first uniquely Canadian art movement.
J.S. McLean was President of Canada Packers and ushered in the company’s long period of dominance in Canada’s meat packing industry. McLean was also a major art collector and philanthropist. A substantial part of his collection was gifted to the Art Gallery of Ontario after the death of his widow in 1968, and his legacy lives on through the AGO’s J.S. McLean Centre for Indigenous and Canadian Art.
