Provenance

Roberts Gallery, Toronto

The Art Emporium, Vancouver

Private collection, Vancouver, acquired 1973

During the 1950s and 60s Casson was particularly busy with commercial work which limited his chances to travel extensively for sketching trips. As a result, Casson visited Algonquin Park during this time given its proximity to Toronto. Ian Thom states that “paintings from this fertile period are splendid explorations of light and form.”

Rather than present a composition from a high vantage point looking down to a dramatic vista, Casson has instead taken a lower viewpoint in “Canoe Lake” (1967). The effect gives a monumental feel to the landscape as the viewer looks across the lake to the sunlit island and dramatic sky.

Canoe Lake is a lake located in Algonquin Provincial Park and is where Tom Thomson tragically drowned on July 8, 1917.