Sold for: $5,313

PROVENANCE
Collection of the Artist
Roberts Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto
By descent to the present Private Collection, Toronto

Although the circa date listed on the Roberts Gallery label was likely provided by A.J. Casson himself to Robert’s Gallery’s then-director Jack Wildridge, its actual date is, in all likelihood, slightly earlier. An impressive oil sketch of the same composition titled Mill at Alton hangs in the Art Gallery of Ontario’s beloved Thomson Collection, dated 1930. This would then place this drawing within what is often referred to as “The Group Period,” the time of active association of the Group of Seven, which ended in 1933.

While also allowing Casson to showcase his deft skills as an architectural draughtsman, the subject of the rural mill is an important one for the artist. Dotted throughout his body of work, they seem to represent to him an aspect of a kinder, warmer and more idyllic past; one he may have sensed was being lost to modernity and progress. Casson skillfully captures here, with warm affection, a wholesome and tranquil vision of rural Ontario.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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