Artworks

Thomas Garside achieves an appropriate expression of the beauty that has drawn summer residents to Métis on the Lower St. Lawrence for almost 150 years. Métis-sur-Mer is a popular area in the Gaspé populated in the summer months by affluent Montrealers and from elsewhere, for the most part, Anglophone, escaping the city’s heat, humidity and pollen. Generations of Molsons, Birks, Oslers and Harringtons continue to own summer homes at Métis.

“The Pointe Mitis [sic] Lighthouse establishes the picturesque character of its shoreline beach setting. The lighthouse stands on a point of land surrounded by rocks that become submerged at high tide. The lighthouse is highly visible from boats on the St. Lawrence and from the coast road. The lightstation enhances the charming, seaside ambience of the area."

"The Pointe Mitis [sic] Lighthouse is highly valued by the local community. It is the most well-known structure in the Métis-sur-Mer area and its location and function make it a natural landmark and a well-loved tourist attraction. It is also very important to mariners who rely on it to safely navigate.”
https://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/page_hl_eng.aspx?id=15072&i=71642

Although “Metis Lighthouse, Leggett’s Point” is probably a painting of the late 1950s vintage, Garside was sketching in the area as early as 1947 when he exhibited a painting at the Art Association of Montreal of Bic (Rimouski), located some 50 kilometres southwest of Métis-sur-Mer.

Thomas Garside was a highly proficient artist active in Montreal and the region from the late 1930. He exhibited at the Art Association annual exhibitions regularly from 1934. He was equally capable in the medium of oils as he was with pastels. Perhaps the most recognizable images of his oeuvre are his winter and autumn scenes of the Laurentians and Eastern Townships. Some of his spring riverscapes in pastel are rather reminiscent of those by Maurice Cullen of an earlier generation. As an aside, we have occasionally seen them with Garside’s signature removed and Cullen’s name added.