Sold for: $49,250

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the Artist by architect Gérard Pratte, founding member of the firm Jodoin Lamarre Pratte architectes, circa 1963
By descent to the present Private Collection, Montreal

Bursting – as its title suggests – in luminous yellow, ochre, brown and orange, Rita Letendre’s Éclatement is a sensational demonstration of the full range and quality of her gestures. Her spirited strokes of the spatula, emblematic of her works from the early 1960s, enliven the entire surface of the canvas with movement and texture. The thick mass of black paint, from which erupt the radiant touches of yellow, is ubiquitous from that period.

Letendre traveled in Europe from 1962 to September 1963, staying in Paris, Italy and Israel. Her travels were tremendously inspiring and brought about a stretch of intense creativity, during which she established her pictorial vocabulary. It was at this time that she explored the contrasting effects of the juxtaposition of impastoed masses of colour and black pigments. She used the latter as a “negative space” in her compositions, creating an oscillating effect between background and foreground. With Éclatement, a dynamic and expressive piece, Letendre cracks open the thick black surface, revealing fiery bolts of yellow underneath.

It is noteworthy to mention that this piece was acquired directly from the artist, circa 1963, by the architect Gérard Pratte (1929 - 2014), a founding member of the important firm Jodoin Lamarre Pratte architectes, established in Montreal from 1958.

The exhibition Rita Letendre: Eternal Space took place at the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum at California State University Long Beach from February 12 to March 26, 2022. This show was presented in conjunction with the completion of restoration on Letendre’s large-scale 1965 mural Sunforce, which was commissioned for the University of California.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars