LOT 041

AANFM RCA
1923 - 1999
Canadian

Les jardins d'aube
oil on canvas
on verso signed, titled, dated 1975, inscribed "#3" and stamped Jean McEwen
80 x 60 in, 203.2 x 152.4 cm

Estimate: $40,000 - $60,000 CAD

Sold for: $46,250

Preview at: Heffel Toronto – 13 Hazelton Ave

PROVENANCE
Waddington & Gorce Inc., Montreal
Private Collection, Montreal

LITERATURE
Roald Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 2007, page 177


Les jardins d’aube (The Gardens of Dawn) is a stunning example of Jean McEwen’s unique handling of colour and texture that defined his mature style. This large canvas is dominated by a gossamer-like white rectangle, subtly bisected in its centre, over a marbled background of mustard, brown and black. McEwen achieved this dazzling effect of transparency by setting layer upon layer of lustrous oil paint, building up to a surface of tonal variations and depth. Art historian Roald Nasgaard wrote about the artist’s practice: “His continuous coloured textures are built out of strata of superimposed paint layers, sometimes as many as a dozen. Their ever more variegated hues and tones lie in ambiguous depths, sometimes opaque and other times transparent and luminous.” Les jardins d’aube is a work that reveals and conceals itself through its thin sheets of colour that trickle down in soft wisps. Elegant and dramatic, this painting encapsulates McEwen’s distinctive approach to abstraction, which was inspired by works from Colour Field painters such as Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman.


Estimate: $40,000 - $60,000 CAD

All prices are in Canadian Dollars


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