A.J. Casson (Alfred Joseph Casson)

1898-1992

A.J. Casson was born in Toronto, Ontario. His family moved to Hamilton in 1912 where he studied under John S. Gordon at the Hamilton Technical School from 1913 to1915. While in Hamilton, he worked as an apprentice at the Laidlaw Lithography Company in Hamilton (1913) and the Commercial Engravers Company (1914). When his family moved back to Toronto in 1915 he worked as a freelance designer. He attended the evening classes at the Toronto Central Technical School under Alfred Howell (1915-1917) and studied at the Ontario College of Art under J.W. Beatty (1918-1921). He also attended private classes under Harry Britton (1916-1918) who first taught him watercolour techniques and introduced him to oil painting.

In 1919 he was employed by the firm Rous & Mann Ltd. as assistant designer to Franklin Carmichael, serving a seven-year apprenticeship. Carmichael became a good friend and sketching companion to Casson, who benefited greatly from his high work standards both in graphic design and painting. It was Carmichael who took Casson to the Arts and Letters Club in 1920 and introduced him to some of the members of the Group of Seven. It was also during this year that Casson made his first extended painting trip with Carmichael in the Muskoka District.

In 1921 Casson exhibited for the first time at the Ontario Society of Artists. The year after he exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy and in 1923 came his first public recognition when the National Gallery of Canada acquired a large canvas. This larger work was realised from a sketch from the Muskoka painting trip. Further recognition came that year when he was elected a member of the Ontario Society of Artists.

In 1924 Casson was advised not to sketch outdoors after being injured while skating but kept painting during the weekends in the greenhouses of the Allen Gardens. During this period he produced many little panels of flowers and still lifes.

While working in oils, Casson also kept developing his techniques in watercolour and in 1926 with Carmichael and Fred H. Brigden, formed the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour. That same year Casson was invited to join the Group of Seven replacing Frank H. Johnston thus becoming the youngest member of the Group. He exhibited with them at the Art Gallery of Toronto and did so in 1928, 1930 and 1931. Still in 1926, he was elected Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy and took a new job following Carmichael at the Sampson-Matthews firm.

Casson’s graphic designer job demanding time, most of his painting trips had to be confined to places close to the city. In 1926, he bought his first car and began exploring and sketching small villages and hamlets in rural Southern Ontario. He also kept sketching during the weekends with Carmichael. He did not show as much interest as the rest of the Group for the northern landscape of Canada, but rather preferred to depict the forms of the rural settings of southern and central Ontario for which he is best known. Still he made trips to Northern Ontario, and did so in 1928 when he went on a sketching trip to Lake Superior with Carmichael, A.Y. Jackson and Lawren Harris.

In 1932 the Group of Seven disbanded following J.E.H. MacDonald’s death. In 1933 a new group would emerge, the Canadian Group of Painters, in which Casson was a founding member. Several of the Group of Seven painters were included in the new group including Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer, A.Y. Jackson and Franklin Carmichael.

For the rest of the 30s, Casson kept working for Sampson-Matthews, painting and exhibiting his work in group shows. In 1936, a retrospective exhibition on the Group of Seven was held at the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Toronto. In 1940, he was elected a full member of the Royal Canadian Academy.

Over the years, Casson held office in many societies and committees and won many awards; in 1939, he was appointed a member of the War Records Committee (1939-1945); he was elected President of the Ontario Society of Artists (1940-1945); he instigated the WWII War Artists Program; he was  President of the Royal Canadian Academy (1948-1952); he became Art Director (1942-1957) and Vice-President (1946-1957) of Sampson-Matthews. He was given the Province of Ontario Award in 1948; he was Vice-President of the Art Gallery of Ontario (1955-1959); he was appointed Art Advisor to the Ontario Provincial Police (1962); he received the Silver Centennial Medal (1967); he received the Royal Canadian Academy Medal (1970); he was made a Fellow of the Ontario College of Art and awarded the City of Toronto Award of Merit for distinguished public services (1973); a lake, a township and a mountain were named after him in Ontario (1974, 1988); he was awarded the Silver Jubilee Medal (1977); he was made part of the Order of Canada (1979) and the Order of Ontario (1991); he received Honorary Degrees from the University of Western Ontario (1970), University of Saskatchewan (1971), University of Toronto (1975), University of Mount Allison and McMaster University (1982).

Casson's design career was crucial to his art. An accomplished calligrapher, he excelled in streamlined design, loved pattern, and developed an exceptional visual memory. Over the years, his art saw a change in style when pattern became a vital element in his work. He became a full-time artist only on retirement from his successful commercial career in 1958. He was a very prolific artist and established an association with gallery in Toronto, where he exhibited over the next twenty years. He was not only one of Canada’s most able artist but also one of the most highly regarded. He lived with his wife in his North Toronto home until his death at the age of 93.

Collections:

- National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON)
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, QC)
- Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (Quebec, QC)
- Musée d’Art de Joliette (Joliette, QC)
- Canadian War Museum (Ottawa, ON)
- Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver, BC)
- Winnipeg Art Gallery (Winnipeg, MN)
- Agnes Etherington Art Centre (Kingston, ON)
- Art Gallery of Hamilton (Hamilton, ON)
- Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, ON)
- Art Gallery of Windsor (Windsor, ON)
- Beaverbrook Art Gallery  (Fredericton, NB)
- MacKenzie Art Gallery (Regina, SK)
- McIntosh Art Gallery (London, ON)
- McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Kleinburg, ON)
- Museum London (London, ON)
- Ottawa Art Gallery (Ottawa, ON)
- Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery (Owen Sound, ON)
- Concordia University (Montreal, QC)
- University of Alberta, (Edmonton, AB)
- University of Guelph (Guelph, ON)
- University of Toronto (Toronto, ON)
- University of Victoria (Victoria, BC)
- The Arts & Letters Club (Toronto, ON)
- Dominion Bank (Toronto, ON)
- Firestone Art Collection (Ottawa, ON)
- Power Corporation of Canada (Montreal, QC)

Affiliations:

- Arts & Letters Club of Toronto (1921)
- Founding member, Canadian Society of Painter in Water Colour (1925)
- Ontario Society of Artist (1926), President (1941-1945)
- Group of Seven (1926)
- Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy (1926)
- Royal Canadian Academy (1939), President (1948-1952)
- Canadian Group of Painters (1933-1961)