Provenance

Galerie Walter Klinkhoff, Montreal

A. K. Prakash & Associates Inc., Toronto

Private Collection, Ottawa

Waddington’s, auction, Toronto, 21 November 2016, lot 48

Private Collection

Alfred Joseph Casson lived most of his life in Toronto where he was born in 1898. His first experience of small-town Ontario was in childhood; he would make frequent visits to Meadowvale, a village west of Toronto, where he had family ties. Villages outside of Toronto, such as Elora, Salem, Uxbridge, and in this instance, Weston, were among the many places he depicted in the 1920s and 1930s. Working full-time at a commercial art firm until 1959, Casson could only leave the city to paint and sketch on weekends and holidays. “Morgan Cottage, Weston, Ontario”, dating to 1935, exemplifies many of the defining features of his work: a nostalgic depiction of Ontario villages, a strong sense of design, and a distinctive atmosphere achieved through colour and lighting qualities that distinguished him from other members of the Group. The painting depicts a modest home nestled beneath heavy winter clouds, its angular geometry and clean contours offset by the soft palette of muted browns, mauves, and cool blues. The bare trees, rendered in Casson’s rhythmic, stylized brushwork, frame the composition, and lend a quiet dignity to this everyday Ontario landscape. Casson would frequently visit Weston, and his treatment of this then small village on the outskirts of Toronto, reflects his enduring fascination with the harmony between human habitation and the Canadian environment.