Jean-Paul Mousseau Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Jean-Paul Mousseau Art Value Price Guide

Dec. 10, 2024
Mousseau, Jean-Paul - Autotheque - 1954
Est: $10,000 - $12,000
Mousseau, Jean-Paul (1927-1991) Autotheque (1954) Description (FR): Huile sur carton maroufle sur panneau, signee et datee en bas e droite Mousseau 54, contresignee et titree au dos. Certificat d'authenticite par la Galerie eric Devlin. Description (EN): Oil on board mounted on panel, signed and dated lower right Mousseau 54, countersigned and titled on the reverse. Authenticity certificate by the Eric Devlin Gallery Dimension (PO): 22" x 27" Dimension (CM): 56 x 69 cm Rapport de condition: Petits accros dans la peinture en bas à droite au dessus de la signature. Sur demande, nous nous ferons un plaisir de rÃ©pondre Ã vos questions de maniÃ¨re dÃ©taillÃ©e. Condition report: Small paint chips in the lower right above the signature. Upon request, We will gladly answer all your inquiries in a detailed manner.
Champagne Auctions
Nov. 28, 2024
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau (1927-1991), ESPACE BLANC, 1954
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau (1927-1991), Canadian ESPACE BLANC, 1954 oil on board signed and dated "54" lower right; titled and dated to gallery labels verso Estimate: $20,000—30,000 CAD
Waddington's
Mar. 28, 2023
Mousseau, Jean-Paul - Lampe suspendue - 1960
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
Mousseau, Jean-Paul (1927-1991) Lampe suspendue (1960) Description: Coloured resin and fibreglass lamp, signed and dated on the bottom Mousseau 60 Dimension (PO): 28" x 10" x 8" Dimension (CM): 71.1 x 25.4 x 20.3 cm Condition report: Upon request, We will gladly answer all your inquiries in a detailed manner.
Champagne Auctions
Oct. 13, 2020
Mousseau, Jean-Paul - Yougoslavie - 1947
Est: $1,500 - $2,000
Mousseau, Jean-Paul (1927-1991) Yougoslavie (1947) Description: Ink on paper, signed and dated on lower left Mousseau 47 Dimension (PO): 8 1/4" x 7" Dimension (CM): 20.95 x 17.78 cm Condition report: Upon request, We will gladly answer all your inquiries in a detailed manner.
Champagne Auctions
Oct. 13, 2020
Mousseau, Jean-Paul - Sans titre - 1946
Est: $1,500 - $2,000
Mousseau, Jean-Paul (1927-1991) Sans titre (1946) Description: Ink on paper, signed and dated on lower center Mousseau 46 Dimension (PO): 5 3/4" x 8 1/2" Dimension (CM): 14.60 x 21.59 cm Condition report: Upon request, We will gladly answer all your inquiries in a detailed manner.
Champagne Auctions
May. 26, 2019
Jean-Paul Mousseau, Lampe, c. 1960
Est: $5,000 - $7,000
Coloured resin and fibreglass, wood basexFibre de verre et résine colorée, socle en bois
BYDealers Auction House
Mar. 19, 2019
Mousseau, Jean-Paul - Abstraction -
Est: $1,800 - $2,200
Mousseau, Jean-Paul (1927-1991) Abstraction - Encre et aquarelle sur papier, signé en bas à droite Mousseau Ink and watercolour on paper, signed on lower right Mousseau 6 1/2" x 3 1/2" - 16.51 x 8.89 cm Rapport de condition : Sur demande, nous nous ferons un plaisir de répondre à vos question de manière détaillée. Condition Report : Upon request, We will gladly answer all your inquiries in a detailed manner.
Champagne Auctions
Apr. 25, 2018
Mousseau, Jean-Paul (1927-1991) Tirée du livre «Les sables du rêve» (1945)
Est: $150 - $250
Sérigraphie sur papier, signée et datée dans la plaque en bas à gauche Mousseau 1945 Silkscreen on paper, signed and dated in the plate on lower left Mousseau 1945 9 1/2" x 7"; 24.13 x 17.78 cm
Champagne Auctions
Apr. 11, 2018
Mousseau, Jean-Paul (1927-1991) Portrait de madame Jeanne Rhéaume (C.1943)
Est: $1,000 - $2,000
Huile sur papier, signée en bas au centre Mousseau Oil on paper, signed on center bottom Mousseau 7" x 5 1/4"; 17.78 x 13.33 cm Provenance : Succession Gosselin
Champagne Auctions
May. 13, 2014
MOUSSEAU, Jean-Paul (1927-1991)
Est: $5,000 - $8,000
MOUSSEAU, Jean-Paul (1927-1991) Untitled Coloured resin light fixture Signed and dated twice: Mousseau 60 25.5x91.5x79cm - 10x36x31" © Succession Jean-Paul MOUSSEAU/ SODRAC (2014)
Iegor
Mar. 28, 2013
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian fibreglass and coloured resin light fixture Ceiling Light Fixture
Est: $7,000 - $9,000
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian fibreglass and coloured resin light fixture Ceiling Light Fixture 10 x 36 x 31 inches 25.4 x 91.4 x 78.7 centimeters signed and dated 1960 twice Provenance:Acquired directly from the Artist by the present Private Collection, Montreal In the fall of 1945, Jean-Paul Mousseau began to study interior design at the École du meuble in Montreal. He formed significant relationships there, becoming acquainted with Marcel Barbeau and Jean-Paul Riopelle, and would later join the radical Automatists. His work during those earlier years was influenced by the unrestrained technique of Paul-Émile Borduas; however, during the 1950s he increasingly began to work with different materials. By 1957, he was creating sculptures and illuminated objects with fibreglass and coloured resins. This striking ceiling light fixture was executed in 1960, and is an important example of his vision to integrate art into the interior environment. In the years to follow, this vision and acute skill in the mediums of fibreglass and ceramics led him to various public art projects in Montreal, most famously for the Montreal Métro and Hydro-Québec. Mousseau played an important role in generating the communal visual culture of Montreal, and this light fixture is a stunning example of his highly celebrated luminous objects.
Heffel
Nov. 22, 2012
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian
Est: $8,000 - $10,000
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian fibreglass and coloured resin light fixture Suspended Lamp 31 1/4 x 7 1/2 x 7 inches 79.4 x 19 x 17.8 centimeters signed and dated 1964 Provenance:Acquired directly from the Artist By descent to the present Private Collection, Quebec Jean-Paul Mousseau was a signatory to the influential Refus global manifesto in 1948. However, it was his later experimentation with various mediums - ceramics, lighting materials, painted fabric and architecture, among others - that solidified his artistic importance in Montreal. Throughout his diverse projects, Mousseau focused on assimilating his artwork into the surrounding environment and being a part of the generation of a communal visual culture in Montreal. He was particularly talented with fibreglass, which led to developing commissions for Hydro-Québec, the Montreal Star newspaper and the Drummondville courthouse in the 1960s. Suspended Lamp is from this productive period and is an excellent example of his skill in the fibreglass medium. This luminous piece was designed to be integrated into its environment, yet still function as a working light fixture, thus allowing the viewer to interact with the work. Suspended Lamp is a merger of technical and aesthetic merits, and not only exemplifies Mousseau's important role as an innovator, but also reflects his distinct contribution to the art and architecture of Montreal.
Heffel
Nov. 22, 2012
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian
Est: $8,000 - $10,000
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian fibreglass and coloured resin Panneau 48 x 32 x 3 inches 121.9 x 81.3 x 7.6 centimeters signed and dated 1964 Provenance:Acquired directly from the Artist by a Private Collector, Montreal By descent to the present Private Collection, Quebec Jean-Paul Mousseau's significance to the visual culture of Montreal cannot be overestimated. At a time of drastic social change in Quebec, he sought to democratize art by implementing it within the city. One of his many roles was teaching classes on the integration of murals into architecture at the École des beaux-arts from 1961 to 1964. Executed in 1964, Panneau is a maquette for a larger work, and is intended to be mounted to a wall and lit from the back with fluctuating fluorescent lights, similar to his celebrated mural at Hydro-Québec. When illuminated, this work is comparable to a stained glass window through which light passes, perpetually changing and transforming during different times of day. Panneau is incredibly textural, with an undulating surface terrain and primarily dark colour palette that varies with the lighting. Therefore, the work is an attractive example of Mousseau's pioneering accomplishments with fibreglass and its infinite possibilities of effects and colours. To celebrate his numerous accomplishments, Mousseau was honoured with a retrospective at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal in 1967.
Heffel
Nov. 22, 2012
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian oil
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian oil on canvas Bleu-éclats 48 x 30 inches 121.9 x 76.2 centimeters signed and dated 1955 and on verso inscribed ""583-57-8"" and ""R14 24 244"" Literature:Claude Roubillard, Panorama of Montreal Painting, City of Montreal Parks Department, 1956, listed page 6 Norman Jeffrey, ""'Blue Explosion' Highlight of St. Helen's Isle Show"", The Gazette, June 5, 1956, page 23, reproduced page 23 ""Local Art on View at St. Helen's Isle"", The Montreal Star, June 5, 1956, reproduced page 8 Rodolphe de Repentigny, ""Aperçus de notre galerie d'été"", La Presse, June 30, 1956 Pierre Landry, Francine Couture and François-Marc Gagnon, Jean-Paul Mousseau, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, 1996, essay by François-Marc Gagnon, page 36 Provenance:Acquired directly from the Artist by a Private Collector, Quebec Private Collection, Toronto Exhibited:City of Montreal Parks Department, Restaurant Hélène-de-Champlain, Montreal, Panorama de la peinture montréalaise / Panorama of Montreal Painting, June 4 - September 3, 1956, catalogue #47 This spectacular 1955 oil on canvas by Jean-Paul Mousseau boldly exemplifies the quest for freedom and autonomy which characterized the social and artistic history of Quebec leading up to the Quiet Revolution. In describing this work, Mousseau related that he assigned the work a descriptive title, but stated, "I wasn't thinking of an explosion when I did it.....It has a feeling, it is a matter of form and colour and movement. But as to its meaning - even me, I do not know what it is. It is a free expression of colour, light and form." In a Post-Automatist manner, the forms of his composition had become more structured without becoming strongly geometrical. Mousseau was the youngest member of the Automatists, and his work stems from these roots, but he went beyond Paul-Émile Borduas's "codes" of spontaneity. Mousseau remained very grateful for the crucial lessons he learned from Automatists Borduas and Fernand Leduc; however, as François-Marc Gagnon notes, "Mousseau fut souvent, et par la force des choses, un automatiste réfractaire. (Mousseau was often, from necessity, a refractory Automatist.)" We thank the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal for information obtained from the Jean-Paul Mousseau Fonds.
Heffel
May. 17, 2012
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian oil
Est: $9,000 - $12,000
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian oil on wood Tableau circulaire 36 diameter inches 91.4 centimeters signed and dated 1964 Provenance:Acquired directly from the Artist by the present Private Collection, Montreal In the mid 1960s, Jean-Paul Mousseau created and exhibited a series of circular paintings that were affixed to metal mechanisms. This structure allowed the paintings to rotate 360 degrees, thus permitting and encouraging the viewer to choose the arrangement of the composition. The bold combinations of colour, along with the two bands of primarily black and yellow, create a simple yet strong geometric composition, providing the viewer with a multitude of striking visual options. Mousseau made his work available to the Montreal community through his various public commissions, and Tableau circulaire encourages the active visual engagement he so strongly promoted. The 1960s proved to be a productive and significant period for Mousseau, which subsequently led to a retrospective at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal in 1967. Also, the National Gallery of Canada has a work from this series from the same year in their permanent collection. Tableau circulaire is a rare offering to the market, and to our knowledge, no comparable piece has been offered at auction before.
Heffel
May. 17, 2012
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian
Est: $8,000 - $10,000
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian fibreglass and coloured resin light fixture Ceiling Light Fixture 10 x 36 x 31 inches 25.4 x 91.4 x 78.7 centimeters signed and dated 1960 twice Provenance:Acquired directly from the Artist by the present Private Collection, Montreal In the fall of 1945, Jean-Paul Mousseau began to study interior design at the École du meuble in Montreal. He formed significant relationships there, becoming acquainted with Marcel Barbeau and Jean-Paul Riopelle, and would later join the radical Automatists. His work during those earlier years was influenced by the unrestrained technique of Paul-Émile Borduas; however, during the 1950s he increasingly began to work with different materials. By 1957, he was creating sculptures and illuminated objects with fibreglass and coloured resins. This striking ceiling light fixture was executed in 1960, and is an important example of his vision to integrate art into the interior environment. In the years to follow, this vision and acute skill in the mediums of fibreglass and ceramics led him to various public art projects in Montreal, most famously for the Montreal Métro and Hydro-Québec. Mousseau played an important role in generating the communal visual culture of Montreal, and this light fixture is a stunning example of his highly celebrated luminous objects. Please note: this work is on view at Galerie Heffel, Montreal only and will not be available at the Vancouver preview.
Heffel
Nov. 24, 2011
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian pastel on card on board Sans titre (série Spectrum)
Est: $20,000 - $30,000
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian pastel on card on board Sans titre (série Spectrum) 44 x 27 7/8 inches 111.7 x 70.8 centimeters signed and dated 1958 Literature:Pierre Landry, Francine Couture and François-Marc Gagnon, Mousseau, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, 1997, reproduced page 106, listed page 147 Provenance:A Prominent Montreal Collection Exhibited:Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Mousseau, January 24 - April 27, 1997, catalogue #158 Jean-Paul Mousseau was the youngest member of the Automatists. He came from a working-class background and, restricted by finances, his works in his early years were small and executed in gouache, watercolour and ink. He championed the creation of public, non-figurative art in Montreal in the 1950s, and his commissioned ceramic piece 54 Circles, created for the Montreal Metro in 1966, was a ground-breaking public work. Mousseau worked in many media, including those with three-dimensional possibilities such as fibre, ceramic, glass, jewellery, theatre design and costumes, and was especially interested in new media such as fibreglass and resin, in which he found the possibilities for expressive light and colour very exciting. His interest in the effects of light within his works led to experimentation with pastels in a series of works exploring colour and line, wherein the concentrated pigments of pastels, being suspended in oil, convey colour in a distinct, luminous way.
Heffel
May. 26, 2011
JEAN-PAUL ARMAND MOUSSEAU 1927 - 1991
Est: $30,000 - $50,000
JEAN-PAUL ARMAND MOUSSEAU 1927 - 1991 FUSHIA; JAUNE-DORÉ; VERT POMME c. 1965 three works, each titled and dated circa 1965 on a gallery label on the reverse oils on panel each 88.9 cm. diameter each 35 in. diameter
Sotheby's
May. 17, 2011
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian
Est: $8,000 - $10,000
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian fibreglass and coloured resin light fixture Suspended Lamp 32 x 19 x 18 inches 81.3 x 48.3 x 45.7 centimeters signed and dated 1960 Literature:Pierre Landry et al, Mousseau, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, 1996, similar works reproduced pages 110, 111 and 112 Provenance:Estate of Andrée Lavigne-Trudeau, Montreal Towards the end of the 1950s, Jean-Paul Mousseau took a new direction in his artistic approach. After 20 years of painting, Mousseau wanted to go beyond the limits of the opacity of paint and the support of canvas. This decision was certainly very audacious for the artist, and the innovations that resulted were impressively modern and in sync with the cultural revolution of the time. Mousseau became involved in different collaborative projects: set design for the theatre, architectural murals and design art in schools, metro stations, corporate and government buildings and restaurants, to name only a few. Throughout his career, from the Automatist period until the multidisciplinary projects of the 1960s, the notion of light had always been at the core of his work, probably more so than the notion of space. The light fixtures Mousseau created during this time are an integral part of his creative and modern energy and his will to explore even more the artistic possibilities of light and colour. The fibreglass and coloured resin light fixtures became true light sculptures, combining the utilitarian and the aesthetic.
Heffel
May. 26, 2010
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian oil
Est: $30,000 - $40,000
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian oil on canvas Bleu-éclats 48 x 30 inches 121.9 x 76.2 centimeters signed and dated 1955 and on verso inscribed ""583-57-8"" and ""R14 24 244"" Literature:Claude Roubillard, Panorama of Montreal Painting, City of Montreal Parks Department, Restaurant Hélène-de-Champlain, 1956, listed page 6 Norman Jeffrey, ""'Blue Explosion' Highlight of St. Helen's Isle Show"", The Gazette, June 5, 1956, page 23, reproduced page 23 The Montreal Star, ""Local Art on View at St. Helen's Isle"", June 5, 1956, reproduced page 8 Rodolphe de Repentigny, ""Aperçus de notre galerie d'été, La Presse, June 30, 1956 Pierre Landry, Francine Couture and François-Marc Gagnon, Jean-Paul Mousseau, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, 1996, essay by François-Marc Gagnon, page 36 Provenance:Acquired directly from the Artist by the present Private Collection, Quebec Exhibited:City of Montreal Parks Department, Restaurant Hélène-de-Champlain, Montreal, Panorama de la peinture montréalaise / Panorama of Montreal Painting, June 4 - September 3, 1956, catalogue #47 This spectacular 1955 oil on canvas by Jean-Paul Mousseau boldly exemplifies the quest for freedom and autonomy which characterized the social and artistic history of Quebec leading to the Quiet Revolution. In describing this work, Mousseau related that he assigned the work a descriptive title, but stated, "I wasn't thinking of an explosion when I did it.....It has a feeling, it is a matter of form and colour and movement. But as to its meaning - even me, I do not know what it is. It is a free expression of colour, light and form." In a Post-Automatist manner, the forms of his composition have become more structured, without becoming strongly geometrical. Mousseau was the youngest member of the Automatists, and his work stems from these roots, but he went beyond Paul-Émile Borduas's "codes" of spontaneity. Mousseau remained very grateful for the crucial lessons he learned from Automatists Borduas and Fernand Leduc; however, as François-Marc Gagnon notes, "Mousseau fut souvent, et par la force des choses, un automatiste réfractaire. [Mousseau was often, from necessity, a refractory automatist.]" We thank the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal for information obtained from the Jean-Paul Mousseau Fonds.
Heffel
Jun. 17, 2009
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian gouache, ink and watercolour on paper Sans titre 9 x 12 inches 22.9 x 30.5 centimeters signed and dated 1948 Literature:Roald Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada, 2007, page 76 Provenance:Private Collection, Montreal Being the youngest member of the Automatist group, Jean-Paul Mousseau came to painting with different personal and visual influences from the others. In Mousseau's early gouaches, as in this fine example dated 1948, some saw incoherence and haphazard methods. But Claude Gauvreau, a visionary playwright and poet who was a signatory of the manifesto Refus Global (importantly published in the same year this painting was produced), was probably the first who recognized that this was a misinterpretation. Mousseau had gone beyond certain aspects of what Paul-Émile Borduas had defined as Automatism, most notably in the deconstruction of the notion of the object. In doing so, Mousseau redefined the sense of space in his paintings as well as the relations between the forms, thus bringing about a prelude to a greater liberation of the visual elements in an all-over approach to the painting surface. Roald Nasgaard elaborates that "in a de Kooning-like fashion he tears apart the residue of his imagery and scatters it evenly across the surface, concomitantly shattering illusionistic space into a consistently articulated bas-relief or Analytic Cubist space. His is a lively spontaneous expressionistic drawing co-ordinated by conscious formal structuring."
Heffel
Nov. 19, 2008
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian
Est: $4,000 - $6,000
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian gouache and watercolour on paper La communion des fesses 20 x 14 inches 50.8 x 35.6 centimeters signed and dated 1948 Literature:Pierre Landry, Francine Couture and François-Marc Gagnon, Mousseau, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, 1997, page 28 Provenance:By descent from the Artist to the present Private Collection, Montreal Exhibited:Librairie Tranquille, Montreal, November 13 - 28, 1948 Exhibited in November 1948 at the Librairie Tranquille where only a few months prior the revolutionary Refus Global was launched, this rare gouache, dated 1948, is a strong example of the uniqueness of Mousseau's Automatist style and temperament. The imbricated colours seem to redefine space as it appeals to the senses and calls for a new way of understanding the pictorial elements. During this period Mousseau had gone beyond Surrealism and aesthetic constraints to achieve that liberating quality which the Automatists stood for. The title, which translates as "The communion of the buttocks", also gives it a provocative and humorous twist which also defined the rebellious aspect of the movement - quite a daring act in a society dominated by the Catholic Church and a repressive government.
Heffel
Nov. 19, 2008
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian oil
Est: $70,000 - $90,000
Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian oil on board La Marseillaise 40 x 30 inches 101.6 x 76.2 centimeters signed and dated 1954 Literature:Zeitgenössische Kunst in Kanada - Contemporary Art in Canada, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, 1959, page 10, reproduced page 16 Jean Sarrazin, ""Promesses tenues?"", La Presse, March 26, 1960, page 38 Michel Grenon, L'image de la Révolution française au Québec 1789 - 1989, 1989, pages 201 and 202, reproduced on the cover Denise Leclerc, The Crisis of Abstraction in Canada: The 1950s, National Gallery of Canada, 1992, pages 67, 158 and 222, reproduced page 157 Pierre Landry, Francine Couture and François-Marc Gagnon, Mousseau, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, 1996, pages 18 and 146, reproduced page 95 Provenance:Galerie Denyse Delrue, Montreal Private Collection, Montreal Exhibited:Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Winnipeg Show, 1955 Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne, Zeitgenössische Kunst in Kanada - Contemporary Art in Canada, March 14 - April 12, 1959, catalogue #28 National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, The Crisis of Abstraction in Canada: The 1950s, March 12 May 24, 1993, traveling to Musée du Québec, Quebec City, Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, the Glenbow Museum, Calgary and the Art Gallery of Hamilton in 1993 1994 Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Mousseau, January 24 - April 27, 1997, catalogue #127 When the late Michel Grenon chose to use La Marseillaise for the cover of his book about the perception of the French Revolution in Quebec from 1789 to 1989, he remarked that the only people in Quebec during the period he was covering in his book who had a positive view of the French Revolution were the artists, particularly the Automatists. It is a fact that in the manifesto Refus Global (Total Refusal) you have a section entitled Commentaries on some current words where one finds a long entry on revolution written by Automatist Paul-Émile Borduas. He mentioned, among other things, the famous motto of the French Revolution: Liberty, Equality and Fraternity! In the Automatist group, Jean-Paul Mousseau was the youngest member, and was particularly interested in social change and in the integration of art into society. His commissioned works in the Metro of Montreal are well known. He came from a rather poor background of people struggling during the thirties to make a living, and when he was sent to Collège Notre-Dame in Montreal, he knew it was with considerable financial sacrifice from his family. There he had the chance to meet Brother Jérôme, who discovered his artistic talent, and was soon in contact through Fernand Leduc - who taught art with Jérôme - with the Automatists. The Marseillaise, as everybody knows, is the national anthem of France. It is not by chance that in his painting Mousseau used, along with black, the colours of the French flag: blue, white and red. But the Marseillaise was connected with the French Revolution. Composed in Strasbourg on April 25, 1792, it became the rallying call of the Revolution. A young volunteer from Montpellier called François Mireur had sung it at a patriotic gathering in Marseille, and it received its name because it was first sung on the streets by volunteers from Marseille upon their arrival in Paris. Mousseau painted La Marseillaise in 1954, and it was sent to The Winnipeg Show the year after, where it won a first prize, but it was soon in the middle of a controversy. For some members of the Women's Committee of the Winnipeg Art Gallery who sponsored the show with the Art Students' Club of the University of Manitoba, Mousseau's painting was the example par excellence of what modernist art was capable of. To others, it was the epitome of what was wrong with modern art, bringing the question of the legitimacy of abstraction into the public arena. Mousseau didn't help by declaring to journalists that his painting expressed some "cosmic forces", a vocabulary borrowed from Claude Gauvreau, the poet of the group. He also indicated that the title came to him after he finished the painting, meaning that he started, in good Automatist fashion, without a preconceived idea. This is hard to believe, considering the obvious choice of colours. In fact, Mousseau succeeded in making a powerful statement expressing an insuperable hope of freedom out of the dark period into which, in his eyes, the Maurice Duplessis regime (which was in power until 1959) had plunged Quebec at the time. The colour of the French flag seems literally to emerge from the darkness and proclaim a new era of liberty. Or does this say too much? The Quiet Revolution was yet to come, but one could say that Mousseau's La Marseillaise was a premonitory sign of its approach. We thank François-Marc Gagnon of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute of Studies in Canadian Art, Concordia University, for contributing the above essay.
Heffel
May. 28, 2008
JEAN-PAUL MOUSSEAU DARK LANDSCAPE
Est: -
JEAN-PAUL MOUSSEAU DARK LANDSCAPE
Joyner