Additional Images

Provenance:

Dorothy Cameron Gallery, Toronto, ON;
Private Collection, Ontario;
Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto, ON;
Private Collection, Toronto, ON

Note:

It is a wonderful opportunity to be offering three works by a single artist at the same time, even more heightened when their production is separated by decades, allowing for a more macrocosmic contemplation of the sweep of an artistic career.

Chronologically, the first of these works is Constellations, painted in 1963 (lot 518). Between 1962 and 1964, Bellefleur spent much of his time in France, returning to Montreal for a few months annually. 1963 was a volatile year for the artist — fresh off a triumphant exhibition, Peintres canadiens de Paris, at the Galerie Arditti in Paris the previous year, Bellefleur found his relationships with various galleries falling through. He parted ways with Galerie Arditti, to whom Bellefleur had guaranteed European exclusivity, while his Montreal dealer, the Galerie Dresdnere, shuttered their Montreal location in order to focus on opening a new venue in Toronto, where Bellefleur was already represented by another gallery. By the end of 1963, Bellefleur was forced to return to Montreal to re-energise his Canadian market, staying there through to the spring of 1964. He would be successful in his task, connecting with two galleries who would further promote his new work.

The second of these works is Ville Incendie, painted in 1972 (lot 572). A few years prior, Bellefleur’s work had been the subject of a major retrospective, exhibited at the National Gallery in Ottawa (October 18-November 17, 1968), the Art Museum in London, Ontario (December 9-January 8, 1969) and finally at the Musée d’art contemporain in Montreal (January 21-March 14, 1969.) Despite Bellefleur’s record of international exhibition, for him, this retrospective was true recognition, boosting his reputation and interest in his work. Bellefleur continued his artistic exploration, noting that “you cannot be ‘avant-garde’ every ten years; you have to try something new, but not change your whole artistic exploration; personally, I want to remain myself, only more intensely.”[1] He and his wife relocated in 1970 to the village of Saint-Antoine, where he would be based for the next twelve years. He would exhibit new works at the Damkjar-Burton Gallery in Hamilton, Ontario in May 1972, a show which was paired with a mini-retrospective of Jack Shadbolt, followed by a successful exhibition of his work at the Upper Street Gallery in London, England in July of 1973.

The third of these works (lot 577), painted in 1995 — when the artist was 85 — is quintessentially Bellefleur, and embodies the artist’s characteristic style. Of the artist’s late career, biographer Guy Robert notes: “unlike ageing artists who revel in the regrets, nostalgia or bitterness of twilight (even apocalyptic) laments, Bellefleur remains an incorruptible child discovering the world on the doorstep of his studio, every time picking up his colours as if it were the first time!”

[1] Guy Robert, Bellefleur: The Fervour of the Quest, (Montreal: Iconia, 1988), 57
[2] Robert, 134.