Instructor Resources

The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson:
Study Guide

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• Introduction
• Exercises
• Materials

Introduction

Welcome to the Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson Study Guide. Before we begin, remember that you can download the full study guide in the Materials section below, or at any time in the sidebar to the right.

Take a look at the cover design of The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson. At a glance the image may appear to be rough-hewn, but consider that wood engraving is a predominantly 19th-century printmaking technique that requires the artist to create images with a burin manipulated on the end-grain of polished blocks of hardwood, in this case, maple. This is not, particularly, easy to accomplish.

Tom is smoking a pipe, and holding a coffee in his hand. He is wearing a toque, and suspenders, maybe. He appears to be smiling, and he is outdoors, close to a lake. Would any of your students be able to identify the tree on the left as a Jack-pine? Have any of your students ever been to Algonquin Park? or, specifically, to Canoe Lake? Can we assume that Tom is often happy to be outdoors, in the bush? Is there some other detail in the image that I have missed?

In tackling these questions, your students will be exercising their visual literacy, a form of comprehension that has a direct effect on understanding and interpreting the images, videos and texts of students’ daily lives.

Exercises

Question 1

Tom may have enrolled in evening classes at the Central Ontario School of Art and Design in Toronto.

What is there in this image that suggests an evening setting?

Question 2

This image is based on the architecture of a recognizable street in downtown Toronto.

What is it?

(The building at the top left, in particular, still exists and should help to identify the street name.)

Materials