Lot 15
ALFRED JOSEPH CASSON, O.S.A., P.R.C.A.
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Maple, Ontario
Literature:
Margaret Gray, Margaret Rand and Lois Steen, A.J Casson, Gage Publishing, Agincourt, Ontario, 1976, pages 49-50, 56.
Ted Herriot, Sunday Morning With Cass: Conversations with A.J. Casson, Purpleville Publishing, Mississauga, 1993, page 128.
Note:
Situated slightly south west of Algonquin Park, Oxtongue Lake was visited frequently by A.J. Casson (1898-1992) and was among his favourite painting places. Casson’s familiarity with the area ran deep: “If you ask me to paint a picture of Oxtongue Lake with one of the islands, I could sit down and do it right now”.
Oxtongue Lake is a classic interpretation in which the simplified forms of trees, some displaying their vivid autumn colours, are silhouetted against a darker background of elevated land or dense evergreens. The big, hazy sky – to which more than half the composition is dedicated - with its full moon or sun evoke in us a humility and wonder we often feel when contemplating the vastness and beauty of nature.