Art Gallery’s Collection of 70 Tom Thomson Artworks & Artifacts Now Available Online

In honour of what will be Tom Thomson’s 146^th birthday on August 5, the Art Gallery is excited to announce the launch of a new online digital database of artworks. The database includes three Tom Thomson paintings purchased by the Lyceum Club and Women's Art Association of Owen Sound in 1927 from the Estate of Tom Thomson. Since then, with the support of Grey County Historical and Art Society, the Women’s Gallery Committee, the Thomson family, and the many dedicated volunteers, staff, and generous donors, the Gallery holdings have grown to include art objects by more than 500 artists. 

Moving forward, the Gallery’s complete collection of more than 2600 objects of Canadian art, spanning the last 165 years, will be gradually added to the online database and made accessible to the public. This new resource can be accessed through the Gallery’s website (tomthomson.org) under the Collection page. 

The Tom Thomson Art Gallery houses the fourth-largest public collection of Tom Thomson artworks in the world, and many of these were gifts from Thomson to his brothers and sisters while he was alive, or they were selected directly from his estate after he passed away. Over the years, his family continued to donate more of his artworks to the Gallery, which was officially opened and named in his honour in 1967.  

For more information, please contact Aidan Ware, Director and Chief Curator, Art Gallery, Culture, Tourism, at 519-376-1932 ext. 5001 or email to aware@tomthomson.org  

Quotes:  

“Owen Sound’s Tom Thomson Art Gallery boasts a nationally significant collection of contemporary and historical art, including important Thomson works and artifacts. Now, with the exciting launch of the digital database, people anywhere will be able to view and enjoy the gallery’s incredible artworks.” 

- Mayor Ian Boddy 

“Twenty-five artworks by Tom Thomson were donated during the Gallery’s formative years by members of his family. This makes the Gallery’s collection of Thomson’s artworks the only public collection to be built directly through personal connections with Thomson’s family and friends. The Gallery continues to carry the Tom Thomson legacy - committed to creating an open landscape for exploring art in the Gallery, out in the community, and now online as well.” 

- Aidan Ware, Director and Chief Curator  
  

Quick Facts: 

• 70 Tom Thomson artworks from the collection will be available to view and explore online: https://tomthomson.pastperfectonline.com/  
• This is part of a larger project to make all the works in the Gallery’s collection available online for public access and research.  
• The Art Gallery currently has a collection of more than 2600 art objects.  
• Tom Thomson’s birthday is August 5. 

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