signed recto; signed & titled verso
Provenance: Masters Gallery, Calgary, AB (label verso)
In 1926 Casson was invited to join the Group of Seven following the departure of Franz Johnston. Casson was introduced to the Group by Franklin Carmichael, for whom Casson worked as an apprentice at Rous & Mann and whom he followed to Sampson- Matthews (where Casson would go on to become art director and vice-president). Casson’s design and illustration career was integral to the development of his art and to defining his style: the streamlined design; the simplification of form; the careful orchestration of lines and patterns. These elements were key to Casson’s sensibility. Though above all else, at his essence, Casson was a painter of the Canadian landscape. Known for his depictions of of Ontario’s forests and farmlands, here, Casson returns to the roots of the Group, a quintessential image of Algonquin Park on a characteristic small panel. Algonquin Park, with its quiet and rugged beauty, was an area originally introduced by Tom Thomson, and to which the Group became so connected that they contemplated the name “Algonquin School”.
Casson was perhaps the most passionate and avid promotor of this school of Canadian art. He was very active in the artistic community over a long, distinguished career. He served as president of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1948-52), president of the Ontario Society of Artists (1941-44) and sat on several boards including what is now the Art Gallery of Ontario (1955-59). He was also instrumental in founding the Canadian Group of Painters, the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, and in instigating the WWII war artist’s program.
