signed, titled & dated verso
Provenance: Mira Goddard Gallery, Toronto, ON (label verso)
McEwen began painting in 1946 while he was a pharmacy student at the University of Montreal, though he was already profoundly interested in poetry and art and actively painting by this point in his life. His early Salon and gallery submissions were well-received by the artistic community, and he struck up a friendship with Paul-Emile Borduas, who encouraged McEwen in his artistic journey, suggesting he visit Jean Paul Riopelle in Paris. McEwen spent three years in France and Spain, touring museums, painting and exhibiting. He was influenced by the Automatistes in their spontaneity, by the French schools of Impressionism and Lyrical Abstraction, and by the non-figural abstraction that characterized the work of the American artists of that era.
McEwen’s work remained distinct – his compositions were experiments exploring colour, light and texture. His works from the 1960s show the artist’s work at its maturity, skillfully layering opaque and translucent paint in a sensuous and poetic manner. Of his work, McEwan has said:
“There are two ways to judge a painting…One is based on criteria and theories of art. The second is based on sensations we get from the picture. I paint the second way.”
In 1987, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts presented a major retrospective of his work. Major exhibitions have also been held by the National Gallery of Canada and the Musee d’art Contemporain de Montreal.
