Additional Images

Provenance:

Galerie du Siècle, Montreal, QC
Private Collection, Ottawa, ON

Note:

Paterson Ewen painted Untitled (Abstract) in an episode of exponential artistic development. In the mid-1950s Ewen’s art grew and developed steadily as he progressed from painting diligent copies of magazine images and naïve landscapes in the late 1940s, to a Blaue Reiter-like post-Impressionism, to abstraction. He then intuitively worked through painting techniques via abstract easel paintings made with limited palettes that explored figure-ground relationships. As Ewen found his way in post-war Montreal, Untitled (Abstract) was a milestone marking his acumen, diligence and nascent talent.

Untitled (Abstract) emerged from a crucible of intense activity and scrutiny. When he exhibited a related painting at the MMFA’s 35 peintres dans l’actualité / Painters of Today in January and February 1957 he showed alongside notable Quebec painters Paul-Émile Borduas, John Fox, Jean Paul Lemieux, Jean Paul Riopelle and Goodridge Roberts, and the work was complimented for its energy derived from its colour and strong drawing that would become hallmarks of his œuvre.

The painting’s simple palette of pale green, grey, lavender, ochre, and alizarin crimson secure Ewen’s considered and unfussy composition. The paint was applied with a brush about 1/2 an inch wide in simple strokes that describe the forms. They are neither the drippy Tenth Street touch of some contemporary American painting nor the refined topography of Paul-Émile Borduas’s contemporary paintings and Ewen’s workman-like approach to laying down paint would typify his art for the balance of his career.

Contributed by Gregory Humeniuk, an art historian, consultant, writer, and curator based in Toronto.