CanadianArt.Waddingtons.ca
52 JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN, R.C.A. SUITE DES PAYS VASTES oil on canvas signed, titled, and dated ‘72 on the reverse 20 ins x 20 ins; 50.8 cms x 50.8 cms $25,000–35,000
40
Provenance: Galerie Simon Blais, Montreal Private Collection, Toronto Literature: Simon Blais and Roald Nasgaard, Rétrospective Jean McEwen, Éditions Simon Blais, Montréal, 2004, page 26 for a closely related work entitled Suites des pays vastes, 1972. Note: Born in Montreal in 1923, Jean McEwen is most recognized for his colourfield and heavily texturized works. Exploring both the sensory effects of colour and its relationship to structure, McEwen shaped his surfaces into richly layered formations. He applied masses of paint to his surfaces directly by hand, teasing out and building up topographical impastos with a palette knife. Various pigments are worked directly into the varnish, creating a shimmer or translucence. The resulting effect is one of grandeur and luminosity. Suite des Pays Vastes (as with other, similarly titled works) appears before the viewer like a crystallized formation. Like a celestial body of silver and gold, McEwen’s canvas captures a moment of metallic exuberance.