Inspired by the surrealist poems of André Breton, Paul-Emile Borduas developed from 1941 an abstract automatic art for which composition and gesture are not preconceived. A teacher at Montreal's Ecole du meuble, he led the hostility of his students against the conservative and clerical policy of Prime Minister Duplessis, a period mocked as the Grande Noirceur. His creativity influences Riopelle.
After three years in New York where he met the abstract expressionists, Borduas set up his studio in Paris in 1955. Abandoning the colors, he staged black shapes whose distribution on a white background reflected his emotions between the anguish of the explosion and the construction of a better civilization.
Borduas is a very good connoisseur in the history of art, influenced by Malevich for the primacy of support over image and by Cézanne's still life for the balanced disposition of objects. His cohorts do not seem static : they enter or leave the canvas as did the unlimited colors of Mondrian.
There is no perspective in Borduas' paintings. A relief is however present with the rolls created from the thick paint by the accumulations of the spatula. His white backgrounds anticipate by a few months the folds reinforced with kaolin in Manzoni's Achromes.
On May 30 in Toronto, Heffel sells Figures Schématiques, oil on canvas painted in 1956. At 130 x 195 cm it is one of the largest formats executed by the artist. It is estimated $ 3M CAD, lot 018.
Black continued to invade the spaces of Borduas. He died of a heart attack in 1960 beside his just completed Composition 69. This composition in intense black is crossed at the top of the image by white slashes, in a last act of hope that reminds the zips by Barnett Newman and anticipates by two decades the Outrenoir by Soulages.
SOLD for $ 3.6M CAD including premium
After three years in New York where he met the abstract expressionists, Borduas set up his studio in Paris in 1955. Abandoning the colors, he staged black shapes whose distribution on a white background reflected his emotions between the anguish of the explosion and the construction of a better civilization.
Borduas is a very good connoisseur in the history of art, influenced by Malevich for the primacy of support over image and by Cézanne's still life for the balanced disposition of objects. His cohorts do not seem static : they enter or leave the canvas as did the unlimited colors of Mondrian.
There is no perspective in Borduas' paintings. A relief is however present with the rolls created from the thick paint by the accumulations of the spatula. His white backgrounds anticipate by a few months the folds reinforced with kaolin in Manzoni's Achromes.
On May 30 in Toronto, Heffel sells Figures Schématiques, oil on canvas painted in 1956. At 130 x 195 cm it is one of the largest formats executed by the artist. It is estimated $ 3M CAD, lot 018.
Black continued to invade the spaces of Borduas. He died of a heart attack in 1960 beside his just completed Composition 69. This composition in intense black is crossed at the top of the image by white slashes, in a last act of hope that reminds the zips by Barnett Newman and anticipates by two decades the Outrenoir by Soulages.
SOLD for $ 3.6M CAD including premium
Leading our live auction by estimate is Figures schématiques, a monumental 1956 work by Paul-Émile Borduas. The 6ft wide canvas has been exhibited around the world and will make its way to the auction block on May 30 (estimate: $3,000,000 - 5,000,000) https://t.co/y66Yvtfwap pic.twitter.com/DW1dRsflyO
— Heffel (@HeffelAuction) April 9, 2018
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