Sold for: $46,250

PROVENANCE
Roberts Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Toronto
Sold sale of Important Canadian Art, Sotheby's Canada in association with Ritchie's, November 21, 2005, lot 49
Property from an Important Private Collection to Benefit a Charitable Foundation

Kilmar is north of Grenville, Quebec, a favoured painting location for A.J. Casson beginning in 1966 and continuing until 1972. From Grenville, where he was based at the home of the Putnam family, Casson would drive up into the Laurentians, and there he found many fine subjects, such as this humble and peaceful church. This larger work would have been based on his on-the-spot sketch, and while producing this painting in his studio, Casson polished and refined his subject. His keen eye for composition is fully evident here. The immediate impression is the tranquility of the church’s setting, with its lush vegetation and a hill glowing with autumn colours. On closer consideration, what stands out is Casson’s treatment of the geometric shapes of shadows raking across the bright white of the sunlit church facade. Casson’s affinity for atmospheric effects shows in the wisps of mist swirling around the hill, which carry the eye up into the vertical movement of the clouds. Small towns and rural scenes carried great significance for Casson, and Little Church at Kilmar, Quebec is a finely crafted work from this part of his oeuvre.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars