Additional Images

Provenance:

Roberts Gallery, Toronto, ON
Private Collection, Toronto, ON, acquired Dec 1958
By descent to the present Private Collection, Vancouver, BC

Note:

Casson retired in 1958 after a 45-year career in commercial art at Sampson Matthews Limited, a career in which he was respected for his perfectionism and his refined understanding of colour and linear design. In his post-retirement role as an artist, Casson pushed these effects to new heights and achievements distinct in Canadian landscape painting.

It was around the time that this painting was made that Casson agreed to work with Roberts Gallery in Toronto. His first solo commercial exhibition opened in 1959 – Casson was 61. The partnership would be a success, and by the mid-1960s, his shows were selling out.

Some of the artist’s best-known works date from the 1950s, showcasing his mature style: simplified forms, cleanly structured compositions, and clear light. The period also saw Casson begin to experiment with modernist approaches. This dovetailed with his interest in pattern and structure, though Casson was quick to reject any interpretations of his work as theoretical exercises. Retirement from commercial work also allowed Casson to paint more winter scenes, as the demands of his employment meant that sketching trips could only be taken during summer vacations.

Of a comparable work, Beech Leaves in Winter, art historians Margaret Gray, Margaret Rand and Lois Steen write that “This small oil, with paint laid on so sketchily that the brush strokes on the prepared board, the pencil sketch and the umber undercoat all show beneath the final painting, is almost a demonstration piece, yet Casson with a few crisp strokes has abstracted the essence of an Ontario beechwood in winter.”[1] Indeed, the restricted palette, simplified composition, and economical brushstrokes of Beech Sapling speak to the skills honed during his commercial career, with concept and form clearly defined.

[1] Margaret Gray, Margaret Rand, Lois Steen, AJ Casson: Canadian Artists 1, (Ontario: Agincourt), 1976, p. 40.