A.J. Casson   (1898-1992)

A.J. Casson. Photograph courtesy of the Revelations by Members of The Arts and Letters Club.

A.J. Casson began a close friendship with Franklin Carmichael in 1919, when, he joined Rous and Mann and became Carmichael's assistant.

Casson was born in Toronto, Ontario but grew up in Guelph and went to school in Hamilton. When he returned to Toronto with his family in 1916, he saw for the first time works by the yet unformed Group of Seven.

Eager to become a landscape painter, he went to evening classes at the Central Technical School and made sketching trips around Toronto. During the first years at Rous and Mann, Casson learned the fundamentals of typography and graphics under the tutelage of Carmichael. Later, he had to stop painting with Carmichael in order to break away from his influence and find a style of his own.

Casson belonged to the second generation of painters working in the Group style. He was able to slip into their ranks without going through the same struggle and experimentation that the older painters did in their formative years.

It is often thought that the major contribution of Casson and Carmichael to the Group was in reviving the neglected art of watercolour painting. Both of them enjoyed working in this medium, which was perfectly suited to their approach and to their work in the commercial field.

In order to improve the quality of watercolour painting and to give it new respectability, they organized the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour. The society's first exhibition was held in 1926 and was so successful that regular shows were held for years after.