PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Toronto
Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, December 6, 2003, lot 26
Private Collection, Ontario
Fine Canadian Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, November 28, 2013, lot 162
Acquired from the above by the present Private Collection, Vancouver

Ontario’s La Cloche area was one of A.J. Casson’s principal painting places from 1948 to 1950. In this atmospheric landscape, Casson used a softened version of his earlier Cubist style to depict the advance of storm clouds, from which pours a deluge. He used this style in the late 1940s, during which it was more strongly stylized, then returned to it in the mid-1950s. Here, with the sheet of rain, Casson created a vertical plane in the sky, increasing the sense of loftiness in the sky. The rounded hills of La Cloche were well known to Group of Seven members, and they were a great favourite of Casson’s colleague and fellow Group painter Franklin Carmichael. Striking rock formations of white quartzite made this landscape a stunning subject, and Casson depicts them to great effect here, their pale tones glowing in the foreground against the storm-laden grey sky. Skies and clouds intrigued Casson – he responded to the drama of weather sweeping across the landscape, and paintings such as Cloche Hills reflect his affinity for the power of nature.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars