A.J. Casson was a member of the school of landscape painters known as the Group of Seven. He joined in 1926, invited by Franklin Carmichael. Casson was known for his paintings of southern Ontario.
Alfred Joseph Casson was born in 1898 in Toronto. His family moved to Guelph when he was nine and later relocated to Hamilton. In 1915, the family moved back to Toronto, where Casson took private art classes with Harry Britton, who taught him how to use oil and watercolor paints. He also learned how about color.
Several jobs followed, including working at a Hamilton lithography company and a commercial art and engraving firm called Brigden’s. In 1919, he worked at a printing company, Rous and Mann Ltd, where he met Group of Seven member Franklin Carmichael. He became Carmichael’s assistant and began sketching and painting on his own.
Casson and Carmichael left Rous and Mann to work at silkscreen printing company Sampson, Matthews Ltd. During this period, Casson met members of The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, including members of the Group of Seven.
In 1925, Casson, Carmichael, and F.H. Brigden founded the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour. Casson was invited to join the Group of Seven in 1926 after Frank Johnston left. Carmichael departed Sampson, Matthews Ltd in 1932 to teach at the Ontario College of Art. Casson became the art director and was promoted to vice president in 1946. In 1952, he was elected to the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Corresponding member.
Casson is known for a painting style that used a limited color palette. He was one of 18 Canadian artists commissioned by the Canadian Pacific Railway to paint a mural inside its new railroad cars. At age 60, he retired to paint full-time.
A.J. Casson died on February 20, 1992, at age 93. He’s buried on the grounds of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, along with six other Group of Seven members.
