Lot 58
MARC-AURÈLE FORTIN, A.R.C.A.
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario
Note:
Marc-Aurèle Fortin (1888-1970) was a prolific painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He studied art in Montreal, then at the Art Institute of Chicago, returning to Montreal in 1914. The works he first exhibited were rural scenes around Montreal, Saint-Rose (his hometown) as well as Quebec City, Charlevoix and Ile d’Orléans where he travelled in summer. Trips to France in 1920 and again from 1934-35 had a significant impact on his art. In the late 1930s he began using pure colour under the influence of the Fauve artists Matisse, Braque and Dufy. The graphic quality of the etchings he began producing in 1930 had an impact on his painting: in this sketch from c. 1938-9, (he didn’t date his work) Fortin has outlined the simplified forms in blue, reminiscent of the Fauves. He also experimented with different techniques and amalgamated what he learned from other artists into his own art. The result was an individual interpretation of the Quebec landscape.