CC QMG RCA
1904 - 1990
Canadian
Le train
oil on card, circa 1965
signed and on verso signed
4 1/2 x 8 3/4 in, 11.4 x 22.2 cm
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD
Sold for: $49,725
Preview at: Heffel Vancouver
PROVENANCE
Galerie Clarence Gagnon, Montreal
Private Collection, Quebec
Jean Paul Lemieux’s mastery of the subtle, scrubbed surface and limited palette is especially effective in this fine work. The train, a repeated subject of interest for Lemieux, speeds into our space from a distant horizon, rushing toward us with all of its mechanized intensity, barely contained by the right edge of the work. Yet the tones of the painting - grey, brown, white and red - and the chalky, drybrush method of applying paint at which Lemieux was so adept, serve to nullify the threat implied by the speeding train. The train simply approaches, charging out of the hoary, frozen air in a sweeping line that conveys a sense of vast, empty distance. And though the engine looms near to us, it is tethered into the distance of the scene by the small patch of corresponding colour on the left side of the work. Further, and quintessentially Lemieux, while the train tracks lead directly into our space as viewers, this intrusion and its threatening psychological effect have been skilfully negated by Lemieux’s decision to paint this work in a diminutive format.
Estimate: $20,000 - $30,000 CAD
All prices are in Canadian Dollars
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