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A.J. (Alfred Joseph) Casson 1898 - 1992 Canadian oil on board Redstone Lake 9 3/8 x 11 1/4 inches 23.8 x 28.6 centimeters signed and on verso titled and inscribed ""$35."" Literature:Paul Duval, A.J. Casson, Roberts Gallery, 1975, page 103 Provenance:Won at a golf tournament in 1948 (The Sclater Shield Cup), Toronto By descent to the present Private Estate, Vancouver Included with this lot is the Sclater Shield Cup from the 1948 tournament and a photocopy of a letter from Group of Seven member A.J. Casson dated February 18, 1976 regarding this painting. Casson wrote, ""I have not been to Redstone Lake for some years now. At the time I painted your sketch the lake was a wilderness, but now it is filled with cottages and all that goes with them."" The 1930s were a time of great creative output by Casson. The Depression had slowed the flow of work at the commercial art firm Sampson Matthews Limited where Casson worked as a graphic designer, and he was able to devote much of his time to painting, both in the studio and in the countryside. One of Casson's main painting locations in 1937 was Redstone Lake. Duval comments, "In particular, the brilliant series of autumn sketches done.....in 1937 around Redstone Lake, hold the potential of superb major landscape paintings. The brilliant technique, glowing colour and strong design of such small panels.....typify on-the-spot painting at its most compelling. These are not mere notes-by-the-way, but well realized and intensely rendered little paintings, executed by an artist in sure command of his medium and creative powers." Redstone Lake, with its row of trees arrayed in rich autumn colours against a turquoise sky, small cabin and view of the deep cobalt lake through the trees is a superb Casson sketch. In the late 1930s, Casson was exhibiting internationally as well as in Canada; in London, England his work was in the Coronation Exhibition in 1937 and in a show at the Tate Gallery. In the United States, he participated in the Great Lakes Exhibition in 1938 and in the 1939 World's Fair.