Jean Albert McEwen
Jean Albert McEwen
1923 - 1999
AANFM RCA
Jean McEwen was born in 1923 in Montreal, and began painting in 1946 while studying pharmacy at the University of Montreal. His first solo exhibition in 1951, at Galerie Agnès Lefort in Montreal, was received favourably. After encouragement from Paul-Émile Borduas, McEwen traveled to Paris that same year and met with Jean Paul Riopelle in December. After a productive two-year trip in which he painted, visited public galleries and museums in Paris and Spain, exhibited with Riopelle and Sam Francis, traveled with Riopelle to Brittany and saw exhibitions by his New York contemporaries, McEwen returned to Montreal and began working for Frosst pharmaceutical company. He participated in many solo and group exhibitions in Quebec and Ontario in subsequent years, including his first solo show in Toronto at Gallery Moos in 1961, two overseas exhibitions in 1962 and a solo exhibition in 1963 at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York.

The exhibition catalogue from the 1973 Musée d'art contemporain retrospective states, "he was one of the first Quebec artists to stress what was to become the major characteristic of Quebec art after Automatism, that is, the exploration of the dynamic possibilities of colour." This quote succinctly describes McEwen's painting; it is all about colour. Over the course of his career, McEwen experimented with different techniques in applying colour to his canvases. He turned to acrylic paint for a few years, experimented in hard-edge painting and explored various compositional formats for his abstract paintings, but the one constant in his work was his insistence on the importance of colour.

The National Gallery of Canada organized a traveling exhibition of his and Harold Town's work in 1966. In 1969 he became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy. He retired from Frosst in 1973 in order to paint full time, and the same year the Musée d'art contemporain in Montreal organized a retrospective of his work entitled McEwen 1953 - 1973. A Canada Council Award in 1977 allowed him to travel to Paris for nine months, and upon his return he began teaching part time at L'Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (1980 to 1985) and Concordia University (1983 to 1995). The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts organized a retrospective of his work entitled Jean McEwen: Colour in Depth in 1987. McEwen died in Montreal in 1999.
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Untitled by Jean Albert McEwen sold for $229,250
Jean Albert McEwen
Untitled
35 x 45 1/2 in, 88.9 x 115.6 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $60,000 - $80,000 CDN
Sold for: $229,250 CDN (premium included)
Post-War & Contemporary Art on Wednesday, June 01, 2022
Le drapeau inconnu—4e thème, no. 21 by Jean Albert McEwen sold for $223,250
Jean Albert McEwen
Le drapeau inconnu—4e thème, no. 21
52 x 46 in, 132.1 x 116.8 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $70,000 - $90,000 CDN
Sold for: $223,250 CDN (premium included)
Post-War & Contemporary Art on Thursday, November 23, 2023
Sans titre by Jean Albert McEwen sold for $181,250
Jean Albert McEwen
Sans titre
39 1/8 x 50 1/8 in, 99.4 x 127.3 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $70,000 - $90,000 CDN
Sold for: $181,250 CDN (premium included)
Post-War & Contemporary Art on Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Compagnon de silence by Jean Albert McEwen sold for $152,100
Jean Albert McEwen
Compagnon de silence
90 x 60 in, 228.6 x 152.4 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $40,000 - $60,000 CDN
Sold for: $152,100 CDN (premium included)
Fall 2010 - 1st Session on Thursday, November 25, 2010
Ochre Cell by Jean Albert McEwen sold for $118,000
Jean Albert McEwen
Ochre Cell
30 x 30 in, 76.2 x 76.2 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $60,000 - $80,000 CDN
Sold for: $118,000 CDN (premium included)
Spring 2015 - 1st Session on Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Rouge sur rouge by Jean Albert McEwen sold for $117,000
Jean Albert McEwen
Rouge sur rouge
30 x 30 in, 76.2 x 76.2 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $60,000 - $80,000 CDN
Sold for: $117,000 CDN (premium included)
Spring 2010 - 1st Session on Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Cellule orange by Jean Albert McEwen sold for $115,250
Jean Albert McEwen
Cellule orange
45 3/4 x 35 in, 116.2 x 88.9 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $70,000 - $90,000 CDN
Sold for: $115,250 CDN (premium included)
Post-War & Contemporary Art on Thursday, November 24, 2022
Le drapeau inconnu by Jean Albert McEwen sold for $112,100
Jean Albert McEwen
Le drapeau inconnu
52 x 37 1/2 in, 132.1 x 95.2 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $60,000 - $80,000 CDN
Sold for: $112,100 CDN (premium included)
Fall 2016 - 1st Session on Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Verticale nocturne by Jean Albert McEwen sold for $111,150
Jean Albert McEwen
Verticale nocturne
59 7/8 x 39 in, 152.1 x 99 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $80,000 - $120,000 CDN
Sold for: $111,150 CDN (premium included)
Fall 2013 - 1st Session on Thursday, November 28, 2013
Midi, temps rouge by Jean Albert McEwen sold for $109,250
Jean Albert McEwen
Midi, temps rouge
39 x 30 in, 99.1 x 76.2 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $40,000 - $60,000 CDN
Sold for: $109,250 CDN (premium included)
Post-War & Contemporary Art on Wednesday, July 15, 2020