Sold for: $2,500

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist by the family of Kosso Eloul
By descent through the family, Israel

Born of Abenaki and Quebecois parents, Rita Letendre was first introduced to Paul-Émile Borduas and the Automatistes during her studies at the École des beaux-arts in Montreal. Their expressive and intuitive approach to art was inspiring to Letendre, who was interested in creative exploration rather than the traditional methods taught at l’École. From that moment on, she dedicated herself entirely to painting and to the possibilities that abstraction could offer. Later, her works were shown alongside the Automatistes’ in pivotal exhibitions such as La matière chante in 1954 and Espace 1955 at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

In the late 1960s through the 1970s, Letendre moved away from Automatiste gesture to a hard-edge and geometric abstraction. During that period, she developed what would later be known as her “flèches” (arrows). From the 1980s to the 2000s, Letendre’s mature period, she melded the two aforementioned styles. While the diagonal compositions remained, she moved away from the slick hard-edged abstraction of the Arrows and returned to the expressive gestures of her Automatist period. In these works, a flurry of colourful and bright strokes move rapidly over a dark negative space. Letendre also experimented in a variety of medium during that time, such as oil, pastel and gouache.

All the works included in this specialty online session come from the private collection of her husband Kosso Eloul’s family. They are being consigned by the family.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars

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