Lot 53: Jean-Philippe Dallaire 1916 - 1965 Canadian

Jean-Philippe Dallaire 1916 - 1965 Canadian gouache on paper Qui est coupable? 17 1/4 x 24 5/8 inches 43.8 x 62.5 centimeters signed, titled, dated 1948 and inscribed ""Canada"" Provenance:A Prominent Montreal Family Estate Jean-Philippe Dallaire worked as an animator for the National Film Board of Canada, and had a strong interest in tapestry-making. He was also interested in Pablo Picasso, the Surrealists, and playing with fracturing and distorting the human form. His complex, imaginative, sometimes macabre works show signs of all these things, yet the circumstances of his life - having spent four years in an internment camp outside of Paris during World War II - give us cause to inquire more deeply into his imagery. In Qui est coupable? (Who is Guilty?), a man and a woman sit on chairs under a feathery sun. It seems to be a beach scene, as indicated by their hats and the gaily-wrapped pole. This work was painted just three years after Dallaire's release from internment. Perhaps we are looking at the artist and his wife - she was also interned - reflecting on their experiences during the war? Their gaze toward each other tells us little, so perhaps it is a simpler scene, having less to do with the politics of war and more about the politics between men and women.