PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Toronto
Important Canadian Art, Sotheby’s Canada, November 8, 1988, lot 266
Private Collection, Toronto
By descent to the present Private Estate, Toronto

Redmond Bay on Lake Baptiste, a 15-minute drive from Bancroft, is in the heart of the Ontario region that A.J. Casson favoured for much of his career. The names of towns, villages and bodies of water from this area are sprinkled so liberally throughout decades of the artist’s body of work that one might be tempted to term the area “Casson Country.” Some 250 kilometres northeast of Toronto but still south of the borders of Algonquin Park, the location suited Casson’s needs perfectly. It contained all the rugged natural beauty made famous by Casson and his fellow members of the Group of Seven yet was still relatively accessible by car.

Here, with fresh and buoyant drama, Casson depicts the glory of fall in northern Ontario in a brilliant palette. The painting is a wonderful study in contrasts, as Casson juxtaposes light and dark colours in the hillside. Likewise, he sets the undulating, rhythmic forms of the tree patterns against the angular and open qualities of the clouds and sky. An excellent example from his important mid-career period, October Morning, Redmond Bay is altogether classic Casson.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars