The half-century following the end of World War II was one of the most fertile periods in the history of painting in Canada. Abstraction dominated artistic practice, as many artists sought an international language that might transcend national and regional narratives. This exhibition highlights a period of remarkable creativity in this country, when ideas of abstraction and the nature and limits of artistic mediums were being hotly contested by artists. Works include those associated with movements as diverse as Abstract Expressionism, Color Field painting, Hard-Edge painting, and Minimalism. These artists, some of the most celebrated in Canada, continually sought to redefine what painting was and what it could be.
Works by Rita Letendre, Harold Town, Marcel Barbeau, Lise Gervais, Marcelle Ferron, Kazuo Nakamura, Fernand Leduc, Serge Lemoyne, Gordon Smith, William Roanld, Jack Shadbolt, and Ron Bloore.
Untitled #10, 1962 gouache on paper, 9" x 12.5" Rita Letendre |
Untitled #9, 1953 gouache on paper, 10.25" x 11" Rita Letendre |
Menace (Ramat Gan), 1963 acrylic on canvas, 25.5" x 32" Rita Letendre |
Untitled, 1958 oil on canvas, 8" × 10" Marcelle Ferron |
Chromatisme Binaire, 1964 oil on canvas, 18" × 15" Fernand Leduc |
La voie d'enfer, 1959
oil on board, 32" × 36" Lise Gervais |
La rosee de la nuit, 2007 acrylic on canvas, 51" × 32" Marcel Barbeau |
Untitled (Blue, White, Red Series), 1976 acrylic on canvas, 30" x 30" Serge Lemoyne |
Nights, 1972 acrylic on canvas, 30" × 40" Rita Letendre |
Painting That Refused to be a Park, 1970 oil on canvas, 66" x 66" Harold Town |
Snap #25, 1972 mixed media on canvas, 49" x 49" Harold Town |
Ship of Dreams, 1981 oil on linen, 36" x 30" Harold Town |
Chrysanthenum, New York, 1955 watercolour, 16.75" x 19.25" William Ronald |
Scott's Vision, 1997 acrylic on canvas, 48" x 36" William Ronald |
|
Fonds marins, 1975 acrylic on linen, 13" × 22" Jean-Paul Jerome |
Dark Expelled, 1960 oil on canvas, 45.5" x 35" Jack Shadbolt |
|
Soleil, 2000 pastel on paper, 10.25" × 11" Rita Letendre |
Brushline Series #26, 1997 oil on masonite, 48" x 72" Ron Bloore |