Art Lover

Ken Thomson was apparently a legendary tightwad -- although Bill Thorsell on CBC Radio One this morning suggested it was about value, not cheapness. Sure, reporters at Thomson papers had to (so they told me) turn in pencil stubs before they were given a new one, and the guy once (according to a memorial quotation in today's Globe) held up a Loblaws checkout line by dropping a Loonie and not leaving until he (with the assistance of a legion of staff from the store) found the coin 10 minutes later, but can you call a guy cheap who buys art at record price levels? I don't think so. I don't know any cheapskate who would find value in something as "useless" as art. I figure anybody who had a big bag of cash just never forgot that it was ultimately made up of a whole lot of single Loonies...

Of everthing I've heard about the guy as he is memorialized, the most wonderful thing is Thomson's own description of himself literally fondling his first sculpture acquisition with the sheer delight the art (not the purchase) brought him.

As to the reason for this blog, I guess it's that I think I understand Thomson's touching of that sculpture. I just have to look up from my desk or turn around, or take a moment as I do almost every morning there is enough light, to look upon the works in my bedroom, in awe (and with a catch in my throat) at the (too few!!) works of art I've surrounded myself with. Someone else remembered Thomson for the "tours" he took people on of his art in a gallery next to his downtown office and it taking an hour or two as he stopped at each piece and remarked, not on some art historical fact or point of critique but on those things that made him love the work...

The envy I had for the guy stems from his financial position that allowed him to possess just about any art work he wanted, but that it wasn't about ego, it was about love of art. Afterall, in the beginning, he bought art nobody else gave much credit, but that he loved. And thank god for that -- given he gave such a huge chunk of his collection to the AGO, so we can all go and share as we view the works the same catch in the throat that Thomson surely felt when they hung above his couch...