Lot 21: Jean Albert McEwen 1923 - 1999 Canadian oil on

Jean Albert McEwen 1923 - 1999 Canadian oil on canvas Rupture lumineuse 82 1/4 x 54 1/4 inches 208.9 x 137.8 centimeters signed and dated 1960 and on verso signed, titled on a label and titled Rupture Lumineux [sic] on the gallery label and dated 20-3-61 Literature:Jean McEwen, "Their Objective Is Non-Objective", Weekend Magazine, 1956, Volume 6, #36, page 15 Provenance:Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto Jean McEwen stated, "There are two ways to judge a painting.....One is based on criteria and theories of art. The second is based on the sensations we get before a picture. I paint the second way." If we use McEwen's criterion to judge this work, we would find it wonderfully hot, perhaps reminiscent of the inside of a beehive, the layers of yellow colours melting through one another like wax, while the vertical line of rusty red and the darker canvas borders contain the frenzy of the hive. His interests lay in spatial relations described through colour, and in this he was a master, blending layers of analogous colours in such subtle and rich layers that the resulting works are alive with pattern, texture and lyricism. McEwen's career was in full-flight in the 1960s. He continued to be included in the biennial exhibitions at the National Gallery of Canada and had won first prize in several important painting competitions in Quebec. He received a Canada Council Grant and held his first one-man show at Gallery Moos in Toronto, where the arresting presence of his work was noted by critics. Rupture lumineuse is fantastically rich, resonant and present. Its tones of gold, yellow and red evoke gold leafed frescos, ancient ruins and medieval manuscripts.