Lot 13
ALFRED JOSEPH CASSON, O.S.A., P.R.C.A.

Additional Images

Provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto
Note:
Rural Ontario provided boundless inspiration for A.J. Casson (1898-1992); it was a favourite subject. In this particular work, Casson has chosen a single winding road outside of Bancroft, just south of Algonquin Provincial Park.
A co-founding member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour (1926) with Franklin Carmichael and F.H. Brigden, Casson had great mastery over this particular medium. Through controlled brushstrokes and a cool palette of soft pastel-like blues and greens in the interplay of sky and terrain, Casson communicates an unmistakable sense of atmosphere and climate conditions. Through his adept interpretation, the viewer visualizes the wind as it gently whispers through the branches of the slanted pine trees. The potential for inclement weather is suggested by the clouds above, which add just the appropriate soupconne of tension. Individual components, particularly the trees at the base of the hill, are a testament to the artist’s training as a designer with a tendency towards abstraction of form.