Lot 89: MARCELLA MALTAIS, SANS TITRE, oil on canvas, 23.5 ins x 23.5 ins; 59.7 cms x 59.7 cms

MARCELLA MALTAISSANS TITREoil on canvassigned and dated ‘66 23.5 ins x 23.5 ins; 59.7 cms x 59.7 cms Marcella Maltais (b.1933) is one of the unsung achievers in the story of Canadian abstraction. Her principal contributions were to Abstract Expressionist works arising from the legacy of the Automatistes. While works such as Sans Titre, 1966, display great vigour, strength and flair, Maltais had a crisis in confidence in abstraction in 1967 and all but gave up painting. After a period of residence in Greece she re-invented herself as a figurative artist making this lot all the more. It is essentially from the last year of her devotion to abstraction.Maltais studied at the École des beaux-arts de Québec from 1949 to 1954 and thereafter travelled to Paris and Europe. She held her first solo show in 1955 in Quebec, then debuted in Toronto in 1956, exhibited at the Musée des beaux-arts in 1957 and the Musée du Québec in 1968. She was included in the Paris Biennial in 1964, Musée d’Art Contemporain in Montreal in 1965 and several international shows in Czechoslovakia, Italy and New York City.Currently Maltais maintains residences and studios at Hydra, Greece and Quebec City.Estimate: $5,000–7,000