signed lower right; signed, titled and dated July 1981 on the reverse
12 × 15 in (30.5 × 38.1 cm)
Private Collection, Toronto
A.J. Casson has played a prominent role in the development of Canadian art, quietly having built his reputation as a master painter without sacrificing the principles of his personal approach to painting. Although a professed lover of travel, Casson never went far afield. He loved the varying landscape of Ontario, from the pastoral rolling hills and villages to shorelines and rocky cliffs.
Marsh’s Falls is located just south of Highway 60 between Huntsville and Dwight, Ontario, and is now part of the Marsh’s Falls Nature Reserve in Lake of Bays. Casson depicted the remote road leading to the falls, which he could freely access for sketching when the work was completed in 1981. Today, access to the area is more restricted due to its protected status. Characteristic of the artist’s later works, this oil painting contains a soft, limited colour palette of greys and greens. Casson focuses on the formal qualities of nature, painting the leaves in an abstracted and geometric style, while maintaining his craft in replicating nature’s aura.
