Les continents fleuris #6

Jean McEwen (1923 – 1999)
Jean McEwen was a celebrated abstract painter who came to public attention alongside the Montreal Automatiste painters Jean Paul Riopelle and Paul-Émile Borduas. His early influences included American abstract expressionists such as Jackson Pollock. A trained pharmacist, he spent the early 1950s in Paris where he met Jean Paul Riopelle and American artist, Sam Francis. The influence of Riopelle is evident in McEwen’s predominant use of the palette knife (later replaced by his fingers) to apply layers of paint, in varying degrees of opacity, giving these abstract works their depth.

From the mid 1950s onwards, McEwen became focused on the effects of colour on canvas to create an experience for the viewer. Exploring light, gesture, and colour, McEwen’s colour-field paintings are noted for their evocative qualities. In 1971, Terry Kirkman and Judy Heviz commented that, “looking into these paintings is like peering through the swirling, mixing vapors of a magical chemical – the longer you look, the more you see.”
The artist himself is famously remembered for saying, “There are two ways to judge a painting ... One is based on criteria and theories of art. The second is based on the sensations we get before a picture. I paint the second way."

Jean McEwen received many awards during his career, including the Concours Artistique for the Province of Quebec, the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award from the Canada Council and, in 1998, the Paul-Émile Borduas Prize from the province of Québec. A first retrospective of his work was presented by the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal in 1973 and a second in 1987 was presented by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1987. He is represented in numerous public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Musée du Québec, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Walker Art Centre, the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, the Albright Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo), the Musée d’art contemporain (Montreal), the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Vancouver Art Gallery.