signed lower right; signed, titled and dated “September 1980” on the reverse
12 × 15 in (30.5 × 38.1 cm)
Auction Estimate:$15,000 - $20,000
Sale date:June 15, 2022
Price Realized
$20,400
(including Buyer's Premium)
Provenance
Private Collection, Toronto
Joyner Waddington’s, auction, June 3, 2003, Lot 152
Private Collection, Ontario
Literature
Hubert De Santana, ‘A Painter’s Life: A.J. Casson looks back on 60 years at the easel’, “Canadian Art”, Spring 1985, pages 64-69
“Rocky Point, Penn Lake” was painted in the year after A.J. Casson was awarded the Order of Canada. He had a long and influential career as an artist, painting numerous depictions of rural Ontario. In this oil painting, the artist has created a balanced composition of foreground, middleground and background, with the lake leading to a mountainous horizon below a blue and white sky. Common to Casson’s work throughout his career is a limited colour palette. In a 1985 interview, the artist recalls this strategy as being present since his early days with the Group of Seven, when “exhibitions were flaming with colour.” He elaborated by stating: “Well, I’ve always thought that if you want to stand out, don’t follow the herd. I was inclined to go into subtle greys, to get away from the gaudy. I painted a few gaudy ones, but they never appealed to me.” In “Rocky Point, Penn Lake”, Casson uses a palette with repeated use of grey, as well as other colours of the same value, creating a calming and peaceful atmosphere.
