John Angus Palmer (1926–1984) was a Canadian painter and surgeon known for small-scale, highly textured landscapes of Ontario. Ravine, Todmorden Mills, Don Valley, 1976, depicts a winter view across a snow-filled ravine in Toronto’s Don Valley, with the buildings of Todmorden Mills visible along the distant ridge. The foreground is built from thick, expressive passages of snow, with a faint set of footprints introducing subtle human presence. Slender, leafless trees rise from the slopes of the ravine, their dark trunks and warm yellow-ochre accents contrasting with the cool whites, blues, and violets of the surrounding snow. Layered purples and greys suggest shadowed winter vegetation and the depth of the valley. Palmer’s brushwork conveys weight, movement, and quiet observation, reflecting his lifelong focus on the Canadian landscape, particularly Northern Ontario and regions near Lake Superior, Georgian Bay, Algonquin Park, and Cobalt.

Palmer’s early artistic development was shaped by studies and mentorship from prominent Canadian painters including Frederick Stanley Haines, Manley MacDonald, Ernest Dalton, and A.J. Casson. He painted frequently alongside fellow artists Lawrence Nickle and Michael Cleary, and he was inspired by the plein-air traditions of the Group of Seven while cultivating his own precise, atmospheric approach. Though he practiced medicine professionally as a surgical oncologist at Toronto General Hospital and as an Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto, Palmer dedicated his free time to capturing Ontario’s landscapes in oils, tempera, and watercolour, producing sketches and small-scale paintings considered most definitive of his oeuvre.

Palmer exhibited widely throughout Ontario, and his works are held in institutional and private collections, including the Temiskaming Art Gallery, where his painting Temiskaming Shaft is housed. Collectors value his small, detailed oil sketches for their compositional clarity, textural depth, and evocative depiction of rural and urban landscapes. Ravine, Todmorden Mills, Don Valley is signed bottom right, executed in oil on panel, and measures 10 × 12 inches.