signed lower right; signed, titled and dated “July /82” on the reverse
12 × 15 in (30.5 × 38.1 cm)
Auction Estimate:$15,000 - $20,000
Sale date:November 19, 2019
Price Realized
$16,520
(including Buyer's Premium)
Provenance
Roberts Gallery, Toronto
Art Mode Gallery, Ottawa
Private Collection, St. John’s
Literature
Margaret Gray, Margaret Rand and Lois Steen, A.J. Casson, Agincourt, Ontario, 1976, page 50
A.J. Casson painted Oxtongue Lake in the Algonquin Highlands many times during his career. This area, near Huntsville, was visited frequently by the Group of Seven members on their sketching trips undertaken both independently and collectively. Algonquin Park and its environs has inspired numerous paintings by the Group, becoming quintessential in the canon of Canadian art.
Oxtongue Lake was among one of A.J. Casson’s favourite places to paint. The artist remarked that “if you ask me to paint a picture of Oxtongue Lake with one of the islands, I could sit down and do it right now.” In “Oxtongue Lake”, Casson has focused on the wooded area near the lake, without including the lake itself. The simplified forms, two- dimensional patterning and pronounced flatness are characteristic of the style and technique of Casson’s mature work, while the subject and composition are evocative of works by the Group.
