A Wordless Narrative Told in 109 Wood Engravings by George A. Walker

The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson is a wordless narrative written in wood with 109 wood engravings. The book follows the life of Canadian landscape painter Tom Thomson until his mysterious death in Algonquin Park in 1917. Canadian art historian, researcher, curator and author Tom Smart has written the introduction to this original book work. The book is available in both a popular edition from The Porcupine's Quill and in a limited edition of 39 numbered and signed copies.

A Visual Elegy

Art Critic Tom Smart describes this project in his introduction:"The narrative is a visual elegy reflecting on the loss of a gifted artist and a man of his time fluent in the visual language of modernism, who also found solace and an artistic muse in the wilds of the Canadian bush. George Walker's engravings chart his life, relationships and journeys as he made a living as a commercial artist in early twentieth-century Toronto, and a painter who found creative inspiration in the hinterland of lakes and forests."

The Limited Hand Printed Edition

Created: 2011
Medium: wood engraving hand printed on 250 gm Rising Stonehenge100% rag archival paper and comes fully bound in cloth with a clamshell protective box.
Book size: 6¼" X 8" X 2½" (232 pages printed recto)
Edition size: 39 copies signed and numbered (Thomson was 39 when he died)
Price: $2,500.00 Canadian each (plus shipping & handling)

The book is housed in a clam shell box made from the finest quality materials. Written in a xylography of pictures the book is accessible to readers of many languages.

PROCESS

Each image is drawn in reverse onto a piece of endgrain Canadian Maple and then inked in with pen and brush before the enngraving process begins.The blocks are then engraved with spitstickers, scorpers and lining tools and readied for the press and first test proofs.