2017 May | Hodgins Art Auctions

Notes:

signed & dated

Notes:

signed & dated recto; titled on artist’s label verso

Notes:

signed; titled on artist’s and gallery labels verso

Notes:

signed; titled on gallery label verso

Notes:

signed & dated recto; titled verso
Provenance: Galerie Bernard Desroches, Montreal, QC (label verso)
Exhibited: Paul-Emile Borduas Retrospective (2014), Masters Gallery, Calgary , AB (label verso)
Catalogue Raisonne: 2005-1021

Notes:

signed; titled on label verso

Notes:

The analogy between the medieval and corporate world has been a theme in Jeff de Boer’s work, drawing a comparison between a suit of armour and a business suit, a briefcase and a sword. De Boer writes: “…there was no difference between something like a great historical battle, such as the Battle of Hastings in 1066, and a modern corporate take-over. The players are the same and the emotions are the same. There was no difference between an office tower and a keep; they served the same function. A little research into the history of the business suit revealed that it had its origin in the arming doublets that were worn under armour or even as armour. The cut and line of a modern suit would still work as padding for the tassels that hung from a breast plate. And what of the handshake, and words like freelance or blackmail? Yes, all the traditions that we mindlessly take for granted have their origins in the world and code of the warrior class.”

Notes:

signed recto; signed & dated verso

Marcelle Ferron was born to a middle-class family with five children, three achieved fame in Quebec and internationally, all five were accomplished in their fields. Marcelle Ferron had to overcome several obstacles, including the loss of her mother at a young age and illness. These experiences, along with a forward-thinking, liberal-minded father, helped to foster in her a strong and independent spirit. Ferron became a dedicated follower of Borduas and the Automatiste movement, and was a signatory of the legendary Refus Global manifesto in 1948. She was steadfast in her artistic, intellectual and political beliefs, and was willing to accept the consequences rather than compromising her principles – she was dismissed from several schools as a girl, prematurely left the Ecole des Beaux-arts in Quebec City due to artistic differences with an instructor, and was expelled from France due to her leftist politics and associations. Ferron lived her life true to herself.

Throughout her prolific and decorated career, Marcelle Ferron exhibited broadly, both at home and internationally. During the Paris years (1953-1966) Ferron’s work achieved prominence, and she flourished as an independent artist. Her paintings became progressively more bold and vibrant, with dynamic strokes thickly applied to her canvases, often with a palette knife or spatula.

While in France she discovered the art of stained glass, and later found herself gravitating toward the medium. From 1963-65 she learned the techniques of glass maker Michel Blum in his Paris studio, and after her return to Montreal in early 1966, she dedicated herself almost exclusively to stained glass for many years before resuming painting once again.

Marcelle Ferron’s work has been featured in more than thirty shows in Canada and numerous international exhibitions. In 1970, The Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montreal staged a retrospective of her work, subsequently shown in Paris at the Canadian Cultural Centre in 1972.

Notes:

Provenance: Masters Gallery, Calgary, AB; Private collection (friend of the artist), New York, NY
Note: Letter of authentication verso from Francois-Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University (Montreal, QC)

Paul-Emile Borduas is one of the most important and influential figures in Canadian contemporary art. Borduas, through force of intellect and personality, and strength of principals succeeded in revolutionizing painting in Quebec and Canada. Borduas was the leader of the Groupe Automatiste, a Surrealist-inspired, non-figurative school of art guided by free expression, impulse and spontaneity. Borduas was a respected teacher, influencing artists such as Jean-Paul Riopelle. He was the chief author of the Refus Global manifesto, a document signed by 16 of Quebec’s leading artists and intellectuals of the time. The Refus caused an uproar in the press and Quebec society, criticized for being anti-establishment, anti-religious, even anarchistic. Though in retrospect, few copies were sold, and the publication was primarily a collection of plays and essays intended to accompany an Automatiste exhibition.

Borduas began his artistic studies under Ozias Leduc, also earning a degree at L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Montreal. He moved to Paris in 1928 for further studies, returning to Montreal several years later and accepting a teaching post at the Ecole des Meubles where he remained until his dismissal in 1948 (in response to the publication of the Refus). Borduas, who had struggled to find financial success as an artist, was now without employment, ostracized, and soon abandoned by his family. He found the next few years difficult. Also struggling with health issues, he found it physically difficult to paint.

It is at this low point that he turned to watercolours and discovered a new form of expression, and freedom. With the assistance of a supportive arts patron/agent, he was able to sell about 150 works, allowing Borduas the means to go to the United States, eventually securing a studio in New York in 1953. These years were critical in the development of Borduas’ art and career. He met many of the leading figures in American Abstract Expressionism, and was particularly impressed by the work of Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, or Mark Rothko, who he felt were going much further than the Automatistes had. Borduas continued to produce watercolours and began to use a palette knife to apply oil to his canvases. His first New York Exhibit in 1954 was received favourably, and was followed by several additional exhibitions during the 1950s. Borduas moved to Paris in 1955, where he died five years later, homesick for Canada, still seeking artistic evolution, and still struggling to find commercial success.

Notes:

Provenance: Roberts Gallery, Toronto, ON; Masters Gallery, AB (labels verso)
Reference: Jean Paul Riopelle Catalogue Raisonné, Volume II, 1954 – 1959 (Yseult Riopelle, 2004); catalogue #1954.040PV.1958; reproduced page 399

Jean-Paul Riopelle is probably Canada’s most accomplished artist in terms of international recognition and financial success. Born in Montreal, he received formal art instruction throughout his adolescence, much of it traditional and focused on copying the works of old masters. Riopelle moved on to the Ecole Polytechnique (where he studied architecture, engineering and photography) and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Montreal. Then, seeking a less academic and constraining environment , he transferred to the more forward-thinking Ecole de Meuble, where he studied under Paul-Emile Borduas. It was with the encouragement of Borduas that he produced his first non-representational painting. He then joined Borduas and the Automatistes and signed the Refus manifesto.

At this point, Riopelle quickly took his own path, making several trips to France, Germany and New York in 1946/1947, finally settling in Paris the following year. Riopelle soon exhibited with the Surrealists, the only Canadian to do so. The growing reputation of the “wild Canadian” gained Riopelle his first solo exhibition in 1949. Riopelle’s career soon erupted, and he would go on to receive continued acclaim. Riopelle was the epitome of the bohemian artist, travelling in avant-garde circles and living hard. He painted prolifically and exhibited continually, and on an international scale.

Riopelle is best known for his vibrant use of colour and heavy impasto, often applying paint with a palette knife or trowel, particularly during his mature mosaic period of the 1950s. Often referred to as abstract, Riopelle rejected this term, calling it a “schématisation abusive”. Art critics and curators dubbed him a pioneer “action painter”. His work is now represented in many major international museums. In 1963, the National Gallery of Canada held a major retrospective and travelling exhibition of Riopelle’ s work – he was the youngest artist to receive this honour. Riopelle earned many honours and awards during his life. He represented Canada in the Venice Biennale (1954) and in 1962 the Canadian pavilion in Venice was given entirely to Riopelle’s work. Just a few additional honours include the Prix International Guggenheim Award (1958), the Unesco prize (1962), the Philippe Hébert Prize (1973), the Order of Canada (1975), and the Paul-Emile Borduas Award (1981).

Riopelle visited Quebec periodically during his years away, occasionally coming home in the fall to hunt and paint. He gradually increased his travels back to Quebec and began exhibiting more in Canada. In 1972, he returned to Quebec, building a studio-residence overlooking a Laurentian lake in Ste-Marguerite, and divided his time between Canada and France, eventually moving back permanently. Riopelle lived half his life in Paris, but those that knew him best say he spent his final years where he was happiest: living quietly and enjoying nature on Isle-aux-Gruese.

Despite their non-representational nature, many of Riopelle’s works, such as this canvas, are evocative of a landscape. This “suggestion of a landscape” was observed by Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell during a New York exhibition of Riopelle’s work at Pierre Matisse Gallery in 1955. (“The American Matisse, The Dealer, His Artists, his Collection”; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009). They were unsettled by the questions that arose: “what kind of landscape…where it came from”. Riopelle spoke in 1977 about his process of constructing all his canvases as landscapes, albeit inner ones. This connotation of landscape increased in the 1960s. Certainly later in his life, when he returned to Canada, nature became more prominent and obvious in his work. Whether the suggestion of landscape in this piece was conscious or unconscious, and the source of that influence will be for the viewer to ponder.