After Rain, Redmond Bay, Lake Baptiste, circa 1963

Roberts Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Paul Duval, “A.J. Casson”, Toronto, 1951, unpaginated Paul Duval, “A.J. Casson”, Toronto, 1975, page 128

The first dedicated exhibition of A.J. Casson’s work was held at Roberts Gallery in March of 1959. Followed by five additional showings of Casson’s work, this new association with Roberts Gallery led the artist to a period of great artistic production and achievement from the 1960s onward. “After Rain, Redmond Bay, Lake Baptiste” belongs to the enduring depictions of the Ontario countryside for which Casson is most known. In this composition, the artist has captured the moment in which a passing storm has begun to clear. The soft, angular lines in the water suggest a current that has come to slow, while simplified formations convey the light weight of storm clouds recently emptied of rain. These elements suggest the dissipating stage of the storm announced in the painting’s title and illustrate Casson’s ability to create a sense of calm and stillness in this moment of transition. Of this stillness, Duval writes: “Like the contemporary American realist, Edward Hopper, he has the ability to crystallize a moment, to make concrete and eternal the passing vision. It is as though the time-machine has suddenly ceased to function, in a world where the wind had stopped breathing and the shadows no longer moved and every blade of glass and cloud were fixed forever.” Executed in the artist’s signature limited colour palette, blush and blue hues throughout the lake and sky capture the beginnings of light as it breaks through the clouds, conveying a sense of hope and clarity that comes with the passing of a storm. During the fall and summer seasons, Casson would rent a small cottage on Lake Baptiste and would spend his days camping and sketching. “During the fifties” Duval wrote, “Casson’s favourite painting place was Lake Baptiste, located about 10 miles from the town of Bancroft, Ontario… He painted there almost exclusively from 1953 to 1955.” According to Duval, some of Casson’s finest canvases were based on sketches done at Lake Baptiste.