Lot 54: Jean-Paul Armand Mousseau 1927 - 1991 Canadian

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.