Sold for: $91,250

PROVENANCE
Marlborough-Godard, Toronto
Galerie Madeleine Lacerte, Quebec City, 2006
Acquired from the above by a Private Collection, Toronto
Post-War & Contemporary Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, May 25, 2016, lot 62
Private Collection, Toronto

Tumultuous and vibrant, Furieuse aurore #1 is a quintessential example of Jean McEwen’s explorations of the relations between colours and their pictorial possibilities. Influenced by works from Colour Field painters such as Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still, McEwen developed a distinctive and textured approach to colour over the course of his career. His energetic and expressive use of the paintbrush added depth and verve to his planes of colour, and this oil on canvas is no exception. Balanced on each side by marbled planes of orange, maroon and black, the central section layers gossamer-like strokes of chartreuse green onto a stormy black, crimson and sapphire background. These delicate, yet restless billows are reminiscent of the particles visible during the aurora borealis. McEwen received many awards and distinctions for his work, such as the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award from the Canada Council for the Arts in 1977 and the Prix Paul-Émile Borduas in 1998. Important retrospectives of his works were held at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal in 1973 and at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1987.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars