1
Q
Paul -Émile Borduas
A
- Born in Saint-Hilaire on November 1 1905
- childhood was marked by poor health and little schooling
- life transformed with his encounter with the painter Ozias Leduc
- Leduc 1921 offered to take on Borduas as an apprentice for his church decoration projects where they worked on chapels.
- this is unusual beginning as two decades later Borduas criticizes the oppression of the Catholic Church in Quebec.
2
Q
Borduas 2
A
- However involvement in these decorative projects provided Borduas with the possibility of making a living as the Church had been the principal patron of art in Quebec
- The conservative Ecole des beaux-arts de Montreal opened in 1923 and with Leduc’s encouragement Borduas followed the school’s four year curriculum.
- Leduc and friend Olivier Maurault of Notre-Dame church facilitated Bordua’s further training in Paris
3
Q
Borduas 3
A
- 1937 hired by Montreal’s Ecole du meuble to replace Jean Paul Lemieux
- At ecole du meuble he met the architect Marcel Parizeau and the art historian Maurice Gagnon
- This was where he first read Andre Bretons Le Chateau Etoile in which the French surrealist poet defined automatism as both a literary and a pictorial method of creation.
4
Q
Borduas 4
A
- The surrealists second solution the investigation of gesture was closer to the approach adopted by Borduas
- The French surrealist Andre Masson, for example freely made lines on paper and allow forms to emerge without any conscious control e.g. he called these dessins automatiques as his starting point was completely devoid of any preconceived idea.
- BORDUAS own automatism approach consisted of first marking the surface with a few charcoal lines without any specific end in mind, following the instructions of da Vinci, but he would then complete the composition with more lines as well as colour to the finished drawing. e.g. method in Abstraction no.25
5
Q
A
PAUL-ÉMILE BORDUAS (1905-1960),
ABSTRACTION NO.25
(TÊTE DE CHEVAL OU FLEUR-ÂNE, 1942
GOUACHE ON WOVE PAPER. 58.6 X 44.2 CM.
6
Q
Borduas Paintings
A
- Borduas’s automatism oil paintings thus have a dichotomy of object/background instead of the dichotomy of line/colour found in the gouaches.
- BORDUAS’s paintings from then onward may be read as a type of landscape since objects positioned in front of a receding background represent the minimum definition of a landscape image.
- 1940s BORDUAS became an inspirational figure to his students at the Ecole du meuble
7
Q
A
PAUL-ÉMILE BORDUAS, AUTOMATISME 1.47 (SOUS LE VENT DE L’ÎLE), 1947 (FIGURE 8.3)
- Borduias called them automatisme & numbers the paintings
- surrealist mood cubist structure
- built up his painting in layers, forms in the foreground were the thickest.
8
Q
A
PAUL-ÉMILE BORDUAS, LA PASSE CIRCULAIRE AU NID D’AVIONS, 1950 (FIGURE 8.5) Oil on Canvas, 76.5 x 102 cm.
9
Q
Borduas cont’d
A
- summer 1941 exhibition by students of the college Sainte-Marie juried by BORDUAS provided his first encounter w the young painter Pierre Gauvreau and then his brother Claude, a writer.
- visitors included Andre Jasmin, Pierre Petel, Guy Viau Gabriel Filion Andre Jasmin, Roger Fauteaux, Jean-Paul Riopelle and Marcel Barbeau along with sculptor Charles Daudelin and Maurice Perron.
This led to his contact w The Gauvreau brothers friends from the Ecole-des beaux-arts including Adrien Villandre, Fernand Leduc, Francoise Sullivan, Madeleine Desroches, Therese Renaud and Louise Renaud, Bruno Cormier, Jean-Paul Mousseau and Claude Vermette also came into contact with the group.
10
Q
Importance of Automatiste
A
- Borduas and other young artists sought to create original art
- these artists were reacting to what was happening in quebec society in the 1940s and 1950s.
- Quebec was a conservative society, politically, intellectually spiritually repressed corrupt government.
- the group consisted of pierre gauvreau, Jean-Paul riopelle Maurice Perron and Claude Gauvreau, Marcel Barbeau and Jean Paul Mousseau Fauteaux and Leduc.
11
Q
Automatistes
A
- The automatiste group exhibitions were the more important activities, they were often presented in makeshift venues because the Montreal Museum of Fine arts and few commercial art galleries in the city were not interested.
- Although the presentations had neither catalogues nor even lists of the works exhibited the shows were noticed by the press and they also provided the stimulating opportunity for the artists to discuss their work with visitors.
- consisted of painters, dancers, critics, writers, poets, choreographers, like minded people.
12
Q
Automatistes 2
A
The first Automatiste exhibition to be held in Canada took place in April 1946 with Barbeau Fauteaux, Pierre Gauvreau, Leduc, Mousseau and Riopelle along w BOURDUAS were the only participants.
It was The first group display of non-figurative painting ever held in Quebec.
exhibition was well received within the working class neighbourhood where it was held
13
Q
Automatiste 3
A
- The second automatiste show in Canada took place at Julienne Gauvreau’s apartment February - March 1947
- The exhibition drew a larger audience and was the first time the group was referred to as the Automatistes.
- The name was given in an article
- Summer exhibition 1947 Paris Works by Barbeau BORDUAS Fauteux Leduc, Mousseau, and Riopelle were wexhibited.
14
Q
Automatiste & Women
A
- Even if women had been involved in the group their works were not shown in these exhibitions
- Therese Renaud wrote poetry Madeleine Arbour a decorator
- Francoise Lesperance , Jeanne Renaud and Sullivan a dancer
- Sullivan and Ferron were painters
15
Q
Automatiste continued
A
- Rioepelle signed manifesto rupture inaugurale supported Bretons position against a group of surrealists aligned with he French communist party
- Thus the montreal automatistes decided to publish their own statement
- Feburary 4th 1948, Alfred Pellan and 14 other artists in conjunctin with an exhibitiion at the MMFA published their own manifesto: Prisme d’yeux.
16
Q
Refus Global
A
- The Automatiste/Borduas’ manifesto
- launched on August 9 August 1948 at the Librairie Tranquille
- was a violent critique of what it called the “deep christian rut” in which Quebec was stuck and certainly its signatories had all broken with the Church.
- not about visual art.
- social and political document although it specifically rejected allegiances with any politics.
17
Q
Refus Global 2
A
- The manifesto also included the typescript for Claude Gauvreau’s play Bien-être, and two other plays
- included Borduas texts
- sullivan contributed the text of her 1948 lecture la danse et l’espoir
- cormier wrote the essay l’oeuvre picturale est une experience” while Leduc sent a proclamation from Paris title Qu’on le veuille ou non”
- The publication also contained reproductions of recent paintings by Barbeau, Pierre Gauvreau, Riopelle and Borduas.
18
Q
Refus Global 3
A
- The publication inaugurated a wave of protest in Montreal’s French press because the manifesto specifically attacked the church and the right- wing netionalism of Premier Maurice Duplessis.
- Refus Global in particular marked a turning point in Quebec society, laying the basis for a new pluralism.
19
Q
Borduas’s Essay
A
- Borduas title essay begins w the premise that Quebec had been denied access to modern international ideas by the oppressive control of the Catholic Church
- Borduas advocated freedom against tradition, universalism against particuralism, creativity against dogma, spontaneity against academicism: in short what he called “splendid anarchy
- He believed that Catholicism had also fostered Quebec’s xenophobic french identity with its nationalist attachment to the rural the ideology of conservation.
20
Q
Bordua’s essay
A
- His title essay also expresses shyness toward communism, which was percieved as a system as potentially oppressive as the church.
- The Automatistes did not share the belief that art must be regulated by the party
- Borduas firing from the ecole du meuble created many difficulties for the survival o the Automatiste group
21
Q
Automatiste after refus global & downfall of Borduas
A
- Riopelle returned to Paris; Leduc and Therese Renaud would remain there for another five years; Borduas became severely depressed and separated from his family.
- Claude Gauvreau’s enthusiasm continued the group otherwise would have dissolved by the end of 1940s
- Many of the Automatistes bravely continued to exhibit
22
Q
Automatiste after Borduas
A
- 1949 the Automatistes protested against the infamous loi du cadenas which gave the provincial government the right to padlock any building or room suspected of containing rebellious or commmunist publications.
- In 1950 The main automatiste event was the manifestation des Rebelles
- the MMFA rejected some works by Barbeau Ferron and Mousseau but accepted Bordua’s mes pauvres petits soldats.
23
Q
Division of group
A
- Pierre Gauvreau did not participate in the Rebelles and criticized the recent work of Barbeau Mousseau and even Borduas
- thus the group was divided between pierre gauvreau, riopelle and Perron and Claude Gauvreau, Barbeau and Mousseau .
Bordeau attempted to keep the group together by writing a text titled Communication intime a mes chers amis.
24
Q
Fernand & Automatiste
A
- Fernand Leduc returned from Montreal hoping to lead the Automatiste movement
- rejected the ideas of Breton and the surrealists
- proposed a non juried exhibition be held in May 1950
- participants included 70 painters and sculptors including the Automatistes
- Leduc found a leadership role in mid 1950s with he formation of the multi-faceted non-figurative artists’ association of Montreal
25
End of Automatiste
- Last important manifestation of the Automatistes was an exhibition
La matiere Chante April - May 1954 in Montreals financial district
- Claude asked borduas to come from NY to select non figurative paintings from the show
- he accepted two abstracts submitted as a prank by the quebec city figurative painters.
26
Borduas after Automatistes
- 1953 Borduas moved to New York there he first encountered Abstract Expressionism
- he adopted from Abstract Expressionism the means to develop a more concise pictorial space.
- His presentation marked the Gallerys first exhibition of non-figurative painting
- consequently his objects which appeared to float in his earlier work became less defined and sometimes seemed to burst and dissolve into the background.
27
Borduas back in Paris
- In 1955 Borduas returned to Paris after 30 years
- End of his career had a solo show in Paris may to june 1959
- His painting underwent important changes in Paris evident in his famous black and white canvases he was attempting to achieve figure ground reversal.
- compositional variations include unequal black and white areas and the enclosure of black shapes by white as in l'etoile noire.
28
PAUL-ÉMILE BORDUAS,
L’ÉTOILE NOIRE, 1957
(FIGURE 8.1) Oil on Canvas,
162.5 x 129.5 cm.
29
PAUL-ÉMILE BORDUAS, 3 + 3 + 2,
1956, OIL ON CANVAS,
129.4 X 84.1 CM.
30
Jean-Paul Riopelle
- achieved the international fame that slipped from Borduas.
- Riopelle was associated with the modern Ecole de Paris after the war.
- he was more at home with the Parisian Abstraction lyrique group with practised a European counterpart of the Abstract Expressionism of New York.
31
Riopelle 2
- Between 1951 - 3 he created all over paintings packed with pure colours.
- Segments of blue red green yellow and black were applied with a spatula onto canvas over which was thrown a net of fine lines in white creating movement across the surface.
- With time Riopelles canvas increased in size and intensity sometimes evoking the aura of an abstract landscape as in Autriche
32
Riopelle 3
- Pavane 1954 is one of the mosaic style that gained him an international reputation
- also became interested in other media print making and sculpture
- Toward end of life Riopelle changed his technique and painted with a spray can instead of brush or spatula creating other works Hommage a Rosa Luxembourg in memory of painter Joan Mitchell
33
JEAN-PAUL RIOPELLE (1923-2002), PAVANE, 1954 (FIGURE 8.6) Oil on canvas, 300 x 500.2 cm.
34
Fernand Leduc
- also spent most of his career in Paris with his wife therese Renaud
- leduc sperated himself from automatism and his painting became increasingly two dimensional and bolder in colour with more simplified shapes under the influence of writer and painter Jean Bazaine
- He then embraced a hard-edge abstraction that was geometric sometimes more fluid in form
- his later work became strict and monochromatic seen in *Microchromies*.
35
FERNAND LEDUC (b. 1916), PORTES ROUGES, 1955 (FIGURE 8.8) Oil on Canvas, 73 x 92 cm.
36
FERNAND LEDUC, DELTA, 1957,
OIL ON CANVAS,
91.4 X 76.2 CM.
37
Why was Paul-Émile Borduas the most important figure in the history of modern Quebec art?
- Borduas advocated freedom against tradition, universalism against particuralism, creativity against dogma, spontaneity against academicism
- 1940s BORDUAS became an inspirational figure to his students at the Ecole du meuble
- main author of refus global which attacked catholism and nationalism.
- It was his discovery of Surrealism that marked a turning point for Borduas;
38
ALFRED PELLAN AND THE PRISME D’YEUX
- formed to counteract les automatistes
- first exhibition in february 1948
- they don't fit in with Automatistes
- purpose was to accept different approaches / the artists had independent approaches to art
- group didnt last long, a year
39
PELLAN
- PELLAN WORKED IN PARIS FROM 1926 UNTIL 1940
- PELLAN was trained in Quebec City
- Left Canada to study In Paris from 1926 - 1940
- had an exhibition of his work in France
- idealized in Quebec by artists as a Quebec artist that knew what was going on in France
- Quebec artists seen very little French art
40
Sur la Plage - made references to earlier French artists
movement of surrealism in France at the time (bottom left image)
aspect of surrealism - dreams come in conflict with director of l'ecole de arts.
41
Pellan 3
- Pellan was able to synthesize different styles into a single painting
- we can see open references to European artists such as matisse (fauvism/expressionism) Picasso (Cubism) Miro and the surrealists,
- In 1940 quebec artists had not travelled to europe and saw his work as innovative
- in the 1950s pellan concentrated on references to plant growth and microscopic forms
- he always said that surrealism was the primary motivation in his work.
- so although he was a promoter of modern art, he was not a true pioneer.
42
ALFRED PELLAN, FLORAISON, C. 1956
