We are excited to announce a rare and important oil sketch by A.J. Casson (1898 – 1992) is now available for private sale. Painted in 1930, this work depicts the village of Caledon East, in the former township of East Caledon, Ontario, and dates from one of the most important decades of the artist’s career. Oil sketches from the early 1930s are scarce, particularly those focused on rural Ontario subjects. The painting is fresh to the market, having been held in a single private family collection for decades. It was originally sold by Casson’s dealer, Roberts Gallery in Toronto, and retains both original gallery labels with dating to the reverse.

Casson joined the Group of Seven in 1926 at the invitation of Franklin Carmichael, becoming the youngest member of the group. Trained in commercial art and design, he worked at Rous and Mann Ltd. as Carmichael’s assistant, a background that informed his disciplined approach to composition and colour. Unlike many of his contemporaries who focused on remote wilderness subjects, Casson is celebrated for his sustained attention to Ontario’s rural villages and built landscapes, streets, houses, barns, and small-town architecture rendered with clarity, structure, and quiet restraint. Works from the 1930s are especially important in defining his mature vision and remain uncommon, particularly in oil sketch form.