Lot 52
ALFRED JOSEPH CASSON, O.S.A., P.R.C.A.

Additional Images

Provenance:
Private Collection, Hamilton
Literature:
Christopher Jackson, A.J. Casson: An Artist’s Life, (catalogue), McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, 1998, page 53.
Exhibited:
23rd Annual Exhibition, Art Gallery of Hamilton, 1972.
Note:
By the early 1970s there remained only two living members of the Group of Seven, A.Y. Jackson and A.J. Casson (1898-1992). The responsibility of spokesperson for things related to the Group fell to Casson due to Jackson’s health and advanced age. It was just several years after the centennial year and Canadians were feeling a distinct sense of the passage of time. As Christopher Jackson writes: “there was a surge of interest in Casson from organizations and institutions seeking to honour a pioneer in Canadian Art. “
At this time Casson was the recipient of a number of honorary degrees and the subject of at least one “lavish” publication. 1971, the year this work was painted, was a banner year for the artist. McMaster University held a Casson retrospective; he had once lived in Hamilton, as did the late owner of this lot. “Finally” writes Jackson “at the age of seventy three, Casson was accorded his first solo exhibition at a public institution.”