Literature
‘A.J. Casson: The Last of the Group of Seven’, “CBC Radio Canada”, October 28, 1986 https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1687546050, accessed April 23, 2022
Paul Duval, “A.J. Casson”, Roberts Gallery, Toronto, 1975, page 89
A.J. Casson was introduced to the Group of Seven by his boss at Rous & Mann Ltd. and fellow Group member, Franklin Carmichael. Carmichael served as a mentor in the early years and took Casson to the Arts and Letters Club, where he was a regular at the Group’s ‘Artists’ Table’. It was an association considered unorthodox by more conservative painters of the time. Casson replaced Franz Johnston in the Group, who had left Toronto in 1921 to become the principal at the Winnipeg School of Art. Casson was made an official member in 1926, however he had participated in the Group sketching trips for years prior. He was the youngest member of the Group of Seven and these trips formed the basis of his arts education having never formally attended art school. According to the artist, “I was a bit of a chore boy. I didn’t mind that...well, if we were away camping...I know once we were camping away up north. One day it was pouring rain and sleet and Harris said, ‘my mother is sending some supplies up on the train today’. It was a four-mile walk down the tracks to the station. They didn’t say it, but I was it! Put my slicker on and went down. When I got there there were 4 loaves of bread, 2 green cabbages, and 2 baskets of grapes.”
Though it may seem odd now, the Group of Seven did not meet with favourable reviews upon its inception. According to Dennis Reid, the Group was more ignored than hated, but by the time Casson joined they had become well established artists. However, that did not stop some critics from loudly voicing their disdain for the Group’s work, including one critic who stated that, “[i]f these paintings were allowed to continue they would discourage immigration to Canada.”
Casson remembers the art market in Canada gathering steam in the 1950s and “taking off” in the 1960s. In 1968 the Roberts Gallery in Toronto held a show of Casson’s work. Patrons lined up for hours. Once the doors opened the crowds rushed in and began ripping the pictures from the walls. Three years of Casson’s paintings sold in 15 minutes. Painting on weekends and evenings, Casson was a part-time painter and full-time commercial artist. Casson remarked, “I didn’t think I’d ever be a professional artist till I was 60. I’d made my living doing good commercial work, but I never thought I’d be a full-time painter.”
Casson was known for painting the rural countryside and villages of northern Ontario. He accompanied fellow Group of Seven member, A.Y. Jackson, on several sketching trips to Quebec in the 1920s, but saw that territory as Jackson’s special painting grounds. Casson explained, “You don’t understand. A young person and admiring what they did so much. The influence was too strong. Jackson - for years - begged me to go down to Quebec with him. Well, I was afraid if I went I would just paint poor Jacksons. So instead of that I started scouting the Ontario villages and doing them.”
Casson wanted to define a territory for himself and settled on the sleepy villages of southern Ontario that he was familiar with from his childhood. However, the two painters shared a love of farmhouses. Paul Duval explained, “[l]ike the American painter Edward Hopper, Casson manages to imbue his rural structures with deeply human overtones.” In “Northern Valley” the central farmhouse, nestled among the unforgiving rocks of the Canadian Shield, gives the impression of being shuttered and empty. The house seems lonely as it awaits its inhabitants.
In “Northern Valley”, A.J. Casson adds interest to the artwork by painting the farmhouses in the foreground in shadow against a bright background. Casson was known for adding unusual elements in his compositions, which he developed over his years as a graphic designer for well-respected Toronto firms, such as Sampson Matthews Limited and the aforementioned Rous & Mann Ltd. Casson often included weather effects in his paintings and here we see the changing light captured with dramatic effect as the clouds gather, warning of an impending rainstorm.
