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Vie des arts

L'art québécois contemporain au Musée Quebec Contemporary Art in the Museum Germain Lefebvre

Volume 20, Number 82, Spring 1976

URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/55032ac

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Publisher(s) La Société La Vie des Arts

ISSN 0042-5435 (print) 1923-3183 (digital)

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Cite this article Lefebvre, G. (1976). L'art québécois contemporain au Musée / Quebec Contemporary Art in the Museum. Vie des arts, 20(82), 39–91.

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This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ L'événement

1. Pierre AYOT . .. et boule de gomme. Sérigraphie; 76 cm 3 x 56,5. (Don des Presses de l'Université du Québec)

En octobre 1940, l'Art Association of Mon­ rechercher les pièces manquantes. Ainsi, le treal, devenue depuis le Musée des Beaux- tableau Les Pensées d'Alfred Pellan, des an­ Arts de Montréal, présente une importante ex­ nées 1935-1940, vient combler, en 1956, un vide position des travaux d'Alfred Pellan, récem­ malheureux. De même en est-il d'Autriche de ment rentré au pays, après un séjour de quator­ Riopelle, peint en 1954 et intégré à la collection ze ans à Paris. Le Musée assure, par ce geste en 1963, ou encore d'un dessin abstrait de qui aura l'effet d'une bombe auprès de la criti­ Brandtner, de 1930, acheté en 1970, et d'un que et des amateurs d'art montréalais, une re­ panneau de Cosgrove, daté de 1948, et acquis connaissance officielle au renouveau artistique en 1961. déjà amorcé, en milieu québécois, par la fonda­ Grâce à ces efforts concertés, une visite de tion de la Société d'Art Contemporain, l'année la collection québécoise du Musée permet sans précédente, à l'instigation de John Lyman. doute de reconstituer un panorama des mouve­ Le souci de conserver un lien étroit avec ments déterminants de notre art, mais elle l'activité créatrice contemporaine n'est pas un donne bien souvent également l'occasion de phénomène inédit au Musée où, chaque année, redécouvrir combien les artistes, et leurs œu­ à l'occasion du Salon de Printemps, on accueil­ vres surtout, échappent aux catégories dans le les œuvres les plus récentes des peintres, lesquelles on a trop tendance à les ranger bien sculpteurs et artistes graphiques. Vers la fin docilement. Autant le credo automatiste ne sau­ des années trente et précédant même le choc rait expliquer tout l'œuvre de Borduas, d'une pellanien, on voit déjà apparaître au catalogue part, autant le concept de la peinture plasti­ des Salons, les noms de plusieurs artistes qui cienne ne peut, d'autre part, rassembler et re­ vont bientôt participer à l'émancipation d'un L'art tenir dans un cadre étroit, tous les peintres art orienté vers la recherche de nouvelles va­ qu'on y a parfois rattachés, de près ou de loin, leurs esthétiques, tels Goodridge Roberts, Fritz à cause de leurs préoccupations formelles, de Brandtner, Marian Scott, Jean-Paul Lemieux et préférence géométrisantes. Paul-Émile Borduas. Un éventail de tableaux judicieusement choi­ Un an après la parution du Refus global, qui québécois sis de Borduas illustre avec une clarté remar­ vaudra à son auteur la réprobation et l'anathè- quable les principales étapes de l'évolution de me des autorités et des gens bien pensants, le son langage pictural. De la Nature morte de jury du soixante-sixième Salon de Printemps, 1941 à la gouache de 1942, en passant par tenu du 20 avril au 15 mai 1949, ose admettre contemporain l'austère portrait de Mme G. (1941), nous assis­ les œuvres de Marcel Barbeau, Pierre Gau­ tons à l'abandon progressif des prétextes figu­ vreau, Jean-Paul Mousseau, Jean-Paul Riopel­ ratifs. Les Carquois fleuris, de 1947, concrétise le, tous cosignataires du manifeste, et couronne les intuitions surréalistes et le geste automati­ son audace en attribuant le prix de peinture à que, qui prennent ensuite de l'ampleur dans Les Paul-Émile Borduas. Il est intéressant de noter au Musée Signes s'envolent (1953) et Le Jardin sous la que cette exposition réunit également des en­ neige (1954), ouvrant large le champ aux impul­ vois de Léon Bellefleur, Anne Kahane, Jean sions du subconscient. La très grande lucidité McEwen, Alfred Pellan, Jacques de Tonnan­ Germain Lefebvre de l'artiste s'impose finalement avec une inten­ cour, Albert Dumouchel, Louis Archambault et sité accrue dans \'Étoile noire, de 1957, tableau Robert Roussil. sobrement construit sur les rapports spatiaux Outre ces manifestations collectives, le Mu­ des modulations du blanc, du noir et du brun, sée tient, au début de 1949, des expositions politiques d'acquisition et permet de consti­ et qui amène le peintre à une phase limite du particulières jumelées d'artistes contempo­ tuer au cours des ans une collection qui, tant pictural. rains, où figureront, à leur début, des jeunes par son étendue que par la qualité des œuvres L'attachement déclaré d'Alfred Pellan à un créateurs qui ont atteint depuis la célébrité. qu'elle rassemble, marque la valeur des déve­ art reposant sur des bases figuratives n'est que Ainsi la programmation de l'année 1956 com­ loppements artistiques en notre province. Dès très rarement remis en question à travers toute porte les noms de Jean-Paul Riopelle, Louis 1942, le Musée se porte acquéreur d'une petite son œuvre, et son Jardin volcanique, acquis par Belzile, Fernand Toupin, Pierre Clerk. En 1960, nature morte de Paul-Émile Borduas exécutée le Musée peu après son exécution en 1960, est on y fait place à Micheline Beauchemin, Jean au cours de l'année précédente et première sans doute celui de ses travaux où il frôle de Goguen, Betty Goodwin, Jacques Hurtubise, œuvre de cet artiste à être acquise par une plus près la forme abstraite. Amalgamant dans Guido Molinari et Claude Tousignant, parmi les institution publique. sa pâte colorée les éléments les plus divers, mieux connus aujourd'hui. Plus près de nous, Les conservateurs des collections tentent de tels le tabac séché, la poudre de silice et le les expositions des Jeunes Associés, à la Ga­ suivre de près l'évolution des diverses tendan­ polyfila, Pellan façonne une surface rutilante lerie de l'Etable, ont poursuivi cet intérêt pour ces et s'efforcent de retenir, au moment où elles qui marque un sommet de sa quête d'une pein­ l'art en gestation. D'importantes rétrospectives apparaissent, les œuvres les plus significatives: ture électrique, d'une peinture tellement inten­ ont consacré, par ailleurs, dans les grandes un tableau de Marian Scott peint en 1942, un se qu'elle soit «impossible à regarder». galeries du Musée, l'œuvre des principaux maî­ autre de Maurice Raymond daté de 1943, une De Fernand Toupin et de Fernand Leduc, qui tres québécois: Paul-Émile Borduas, en 1962, toile de Fernand Leduc de 1954, ou une sculp­ furent du premier groupe des plasticiens, le Jean-Paul Riopelle, en 1963, Jean-Paul Le­ ture d'Ulysse Comtois de 1969, par exemple, Musée possède Blanc-Sablons (1964) et Plans mieux, en 1967 et, peu avant la fermeture tem­ sont acquis dans les quelques mois qui suivent érosions (1968), respectivement; œuvres dont poraire du Musée, Alfred Pellan, en 1972. leur réalisation. Lorsque, avec le recul des ans, la manière paraît à ce point différente de l'une Le besoin impératif, ressenti par les autori­ on constate des lacunes graves dans la repré­ à l'autre qu'on a peine à imaginer les liens qui tés du Musée, de témoigner de la vitalité de sentation de certaines périodes ou, plus préci­ ont pu les regrouper vraiment dans une même l'art québécois se traduit d'autre part dans les sément, de certains artistes, on n'hésite pas à école. Par ailleurs, les tableaux Rectangles et

39 L'événement

lignes jaunes (1961) de Guido Molinari, Cercle François Dallégret et Hugh Leroy. Les Daude­ latin (1969) de Claude Tousignant et Rondes lin, Hayvaert, Trudeau, Gnass et Bonet y figu­ rouges et bleues (1967) de Denis Juneau qui, rent également en bonne place. Les œuvres entre autres, représentent la seconde vague du monumentales ne forment à ce jour qu'un fai­ mouvement, possèdent, malgré leur éloigne- ble ensemble mais l'aménagement longuement ment dans le temps, de réelles affinités au ni­ souhaité d'un jardin de sculpture laisse pré­ veau de leur commune recherche des effets voir, pour un proche avenir, un élargissement vibratoires de la couleur dans un espace sa­ de ce corpus. vamment mesuré et organisé. L'art de la gravure a pris un véritable essor Très nombreux sont les peintres qui, bien à Montréal grâce au talent de professeur et qu'ils aient pu manifester à un moment quel­ d'animateur du regretté Albert Dumouchel. Il a conque de leur carrière des sympathies pour su provoquer chez ses disciples et chez ses les idées esthétiques de l'un ou l'autre des étudiants un amour du patient et méticuleux groupes militants, se sont maintenus à une cer­ ouvrage et leur faire découvrir les infinies pos­ taine distance, afin de poursuivre leurs recher­ sibilités des diverses techniques de l'estampe. ches originales. Il ont, dans la collection du La prolifération des ateliers de recherche et de Musée, une présence qui témoigne de la vali­ production, tant à Québec qu'à Montréal, sou­ dité de leurs efforts et de la richesse de leur ligne cette heureuse réussite. Elle est reflétée contribution. Jacques de Tonnancour est ainsi au Musée par l'accroissement considérable de représenté par trois tableaux évoquant autant la collection d'estampes au cours des dix der­ de facettes de son abondante production, dont nières années. La présence du maître est si­ Trilobé de 1966 qui affirme avec maîtrise une gnalée par plus d'une vingtaine d'œuvres alors nouvelle orientation. Jean McEwen, Charles que des centaines de linogravures, de sérigra­ Gagnon, Yves Gaucher, Jean Dallaire, Albert phies, d'eaux-fortes et de lithographies illus­ Dumouchel et Jean-Paul Lemieux, parmi tant trent la variété et l'originalité de ses continua­ d'autres, comptent chacun au moins deux de teurs, qu'ils s'appellent Richard Lacroix, Ro­ leurs œuvres au sein d'une collection qui fait land Giguère, Gérard Tremblay, Robert Savoie, place, par ailleurs, à la très grande majorité Gilles Boisvert ou Pierre Ayot. des artistes québécois de quelque envergure. La collection d'art québécois contemporain Bien que cet ensemble d'œuvres contempo­ du Musée s'enrichit dans son ensemble d'an­ raines intègre la peinture dans une plus vaste née en année mais elle semble se caractériser, proportion, les autres disciplines artistiques, et particulièrement depuis 1963, par un vigoureux particulièrement la sculpture et la gravure, n'en rajeunissement. Il y a treize ans, en effet, M. et sont pas pour autant absentes. L'acquisition Mme Samuel Bronfman s'engageaient à verser en 1959 de Waiting People d'Anne Kahane, de une somme annuelle de $10,000 destinée à Composition de Robert Roussil et d'une œuvre l'achat d'œuvres de jeunes artistes canadiens sans titre d'Armand Vaillancourt, constituait le âgés de 35 ans ou moins. Cette générosité s'est noyau initial de cette collection. Elle connaîtra maintenue depuis, et les artistes québécois ont un enrichissement significatif, dix années plus pu largement en bénéficier. Des toiles de Lise tard, par l'addition de pièces choisies d'Henry Gervais, de Claude Girard, de Jacques Hurtu­ Saxe, Serge Tousignant, Ulysse Comtois, bise, de Jan Menses, de Louise Scott; des ta-

2. Alfred PELLAN Les Pensées. Huile sur toile; 81 cm 3 x 100,3. (Fonds Harriette J. MacDonnell) 3. Paul-Émile BORDUAS (1905-1960) Les Carquois fleuris, 1947. Huile sur toile; 81 cm 2 x 109,2. (Don de M. et Mme Maurice Chartré) 4. Jacques GODEFROY de TONNANCOUR Le Trilobé, 1966. Huile et collage sur toile; 122 cm x 122. (Don du Comité des Bénévoles)

40 L'événement

5. Richard LACROIX La Few liée, 1963. Eau-forte; 62 cm 2 x 62,2. (Coll. S. et S. Bronfman d'art canadien)

6. Jean DALLAIRE (1916-1965) Od//e, 1957. Huile sur masonite; 122 cm x 122. (Legs Harriette J. MacDonnell) 7. Albert DUMOUCHEL (1916-1971) Les Jaloux au sacre de l'impératrice Theodora, 1965 Lithographie; 50 cm 3 x 65,4. (Legs Horsley et Annie Townsend)

•Il L'événement

8. Charles GAGNON Traversée en février, 1963. Huile sur toile; 81 cm 3 x 81,3. (Coll. S. et S. Bronfman d'art canadien) 9. Anne KAHANE L'Attente. Bois; 94 cm x 81,2 x 31,1. (Don de Mme Samuel Bronfman)

42 L'événement

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43 L'événement

pisseries de Micheline Beauchemin et de Fer­ nand Daudelin; un ensemble impressionnant de dessins et de gravures sont ainsi entrés dans la collection du Musée grâce à ce fonds. Les portes du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal s'ouvrent de nouveau après une lon­ gue interruption qu'il a mis à profit pour se re­ faire une beauté et se donner des espaces di­ gnes de la qualité et de la diversité de ses col­ lections. Les visiteurs auront plaisir sans doute à y découvrir sous un nouvel éclairage l'am­ pleur et l'importance de la représentation de l'art québécois contemporain en constante évolution et, surtout, à y admirer pour la pre­ mière fois la moisson recueillie au cours de la période de transition.

Germain Lefebvre, Conservateur adjoint de l'art canadien au Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal. VO English Translation, p. 90

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12. Jennifer DICKSON Souvenirs No 52, 1972. Acrylique et collage sur toile; 82 cm x 94. (Coll. S. et S. Bronfman d'art canadien) 13. Gilles BOISVERT, Demain midi, 1969. Acrylique sur toile; 122 cm x 137,7. (Collection S. et S. Bronfman d'art canadien)

14. Denis JUNEAU Rondes rouges et bleues, 1967. Acrylique sur toile; 172 cm 7 x 172,7. (Legs Horsley et Annie Townsend) /rm 44 rest and let us also be assured that many con­ pompous portraits, and the three Quebec paint­ Rubens), in order to enrich the National Gallery temporary artists, and not minor ones, will per­ ers, Joseph Légaré, Antoine Plamondon and of Canada by prestigious pictures able to attract haps join them some day. Théophile Hamel are represented as well, the crowds and, in the same line of thought, he had Secondly, the choice of the work of each first by a strange composition, the second by even dreamed of bringing in also the extraordi­ painter is variable and uneven in number and portraits and religious pictures, odd parts of a nary Portrait of Ginevra Benci by Leonardo da quality, most being represented by only one or stations of the Cross, and the third by two Vinci now at the National Gallery in Washington. two works. The collection admits of voids, strong portraits. The lesser Canadian landscape We have often examined the Montreal Museum particularly in the class of French-Canadian painters of the 19th century are numerous on of Fine Arts collections in order to discover in painters. It must not be forgotten that until very the walls, with their panoramic views divested them poles of popular attraction. There are recently the Museum was the almost exclusive of pretensions other than descriptive. excellent things in our museum, but few daz­ domain of the Anglo-Saxon gentry ot Montreal But it is with Canadian painting of the 20th zling ones. Lacking Mona Lisas or Venus de Mi- and that its members were almost the only century that the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts los, why should we not further show to advan­ donors. It is understandable that they gave achieves a great documentary richness. We tage this prestigious collection of James Wilson their preference to their compatriots and that, have noted in passing the excellence of the Morrice's works that is the brightest jewel of perhaps badly served by that cultural isolation­ representation of William Brymner and Maurice the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts collection of ism which has too often afflicted some Anglo- Cullen, while deploring the insufficiency of Canadian painting of yesterday'. Canadians, they were led to neglect the French- Suzor-Coté's and Clarence Gagnon's works. Canadian painters. Very fortunately, the Mu­ Almost all the important painters of the pre- 1.To fill the gaps in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts seum's acquisition policy has changed much contemporary period are worthily represented collections, and in all of Canada's museums, and to hasten their enrichment, it is much to be desired that in the last twenty years and has appreciably here, and almost always by fine pictures. Three there should finally be passed in Ottawa a more flexible corrected this state of things. However, there Ozias Leduc, more or less recently acquired, and more generous tax abatement law, comparable to still exist some deficiencies. Among the paint­ one of which is his famous L'Heure mauve, illus­ the one in force in the United States, and which would ers of the past, some are still conspicuous by trate wonderfully although incompletely the further prompt collectors to transfer their treasures to public galleries. their absence, such as Zacharie Vincent — special talent of this recluse, while John Lyman 2. Our warm thanks to Mr. Germain Lefebvre, Curator of although it is true that he produced very little holds an honourable place with seven luminous the Canadian Painting Collection at the Montreal Mu­ —, Napoléon Bourassa, Charles Huot, Ludger oils. A delightful Adrien Hébert, bought re­ seum of Fine Arts, whose assistance, during this period when the museum was closed, has been immeasurably Larose, Henri Beau, Joseph Saint-Charles and, cently, Hyman's Tobacco Shop, has just been valuable to us. closer to us, Randolph Hewton and Alexandre added to his limpid perspective, Place Jacques- (Translation by Mildred Grand) Bercovitch. The Museum owns only one oil by Cartier. The ensemble of canvases and Henri Julien, Georges Delfosse and Marc- sketches by the painters of the Group of Seven Aurèle Fortin, and it seems to us that the and their epigones, Albert Robinson, David groups by Suzor-Coté — painter of Bois-Francs Milne, Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald and Emily who made a career in Montreal and by Clarence Carr is perfectly representative — although Gagnon — Montreal painter who made his in scanty in number — of this school of Toronto Paris — could be more ample. As much, in any painting with which not everyone is infatuated, QUEBEC CONTEMPORARY ART case, as those by William Brymner and Maurice it is true, but which has nevertheless played an IN THE MUSEUM Cullen, of whom the Museum owns a consider­ important rôle in the history of Canadian art. able number of very good works. Finally, the The very best part of yesterday's Canadian Museum contains only two Homer Watsons and painting collection at the Montreal Museum of By Germain LEFEBVRE three Horatio Walkers, all very characteristic, Fine Arts, if not the best of the whole museum, nevertheless of the style of these artists. It is to is undeniably that of the pictures, sketches and In October, 1940, the Art Association of be hoped that all of these absences will be water-colours by James Wilson Morrice, who Montreal — since become The Montreal corrected with time. was and still remains to this day Canada's Museum of Fine Arts — staged a major exhibi­ We have just described the shadowed cor­ greatest painter. Thanks are due for this to the tion of the work of Alfred Pellan who had just ners, and it now remains for us to emphasize artist's family, who generously bestowed on the returned to Canada after a fourteen-year stay the strong points of the collection of yester­ Museum an unrivalled ensemble in which one in Paris. It had the effect of a bomb on Montreal day's Canadian painting at the Montreal Mu­ can admire all the facets of the painter's talent. critics and art-lovers and the Museum, in pre­ seum of Fine Arts. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts possesses senting it, officially recognized the artistic Putting aside the few weak spots mentioned no fewer than seventy of Morrice's works, of all renewal which had begun in Quebec a year above, we can state that, all in all, a visitor to sizes. Of these, nine were given by different before through the foundation of the Contem­ the Museum can acquire there a satisfying English donors, nine were bought by the Mu­ porary Art Society, under the leadership of knowledge of the evolution of painting in Can­ seum thanks to funds provided by other patrons, John Lyman. ada, provided, naturally, that the canvases are and the rest were bequeathed by the Morrice The desire to maintain a close link with con­ hung, as was not, unfortunately, the case in the Family, among them about ten sketches and temporary creative activity was not a new past. A visit to the McCord Museum, with which water-colours in 1974, during the closing of the phenomenon at the Museum where the Spring the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has made a Museum. If we exclude the nudes, we can enjoy Exhibition each year shows the most recent friendly agreement, will give the lover of art in this much-varied collection all the aspects of achievement of painters, sculptors and print- the opportunity of completing in large measure this engaging and unusual poet who was the makers. Even before the Pellanian shock, the the information previously acquired at the Mu­ equal of the most brilliant minor masters of Spring Exhibition catalogues of the late 1930s seum. The latter has few specimens of the work Impressionism: landscapes of France and the included the names of a number of artists who of our very first painters, who confined them­ Antilles, views of Venice or North Africa, street soon were to participate in the emancipation of selves mostly to church pictures. A recent or circus scenes, melancholy faces sunk in an art centred on the search for new aesthetic donation by Mr. Maurice Corbeil has brought to reverie, snowy vistas of Quebec, all of Morrice values, such as Goodridge Roberts, Fritz the Museum two historical figures painted by is here with his economy of line and colour, with Brandner, Marian Scott, Jean-Paul Lemieux, François Malepart de Beaucourt, and five years his accents discreet as murmurs and yet so and Paul-Émile Borduas. ago a rare still-life by William von Moll Berczy enticing. I know several art lovers, and we are A year after the appearance of Refus global, was acquired. Paul Kane, the iconographer par among them, who have often returned to the whose author drew the censure and anathema excellence of the Indians of Canada, is best Museum solely to see the Morrice works once of the authorities and the Establishment, the represented at the Royal Ontario Museum in more. We are told that the renovated Museum jury of the sixty-sixth Spring Exhibition, pre­ Toronto, and at the National Museum in Ottawa; will have its Morrice room, and that they will sented from April 20 to May 15, 1949, dared the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts owns two of exhibit in turn the different pictures they have accept the works of Marcel Barbeau, Pierre his pictures which are first-rate. Cornelius of his. To mark the reopening of the Museum Gauvreau, Jean-Paul Mousseau, Jean-Paul Krieghoff, a clever artificial painter who has for in May 1976, no celebration could be more Riopelle, all co-signatories of the manifesto, decades been the favourite of auctioneers and brilliant, in our opinion, than to see gathered and topped its audacity by awarding the prize Anglo-Canadian financiers, appears well repre­ together for once, in the same place, all the for painting to Paul-Émile Borduas. It is inter­ sented with eleven canvases in which are dis­ Morrice works in the Museum's collection. esting to note that the exhibition also included played his dexterity and his picturesque shodi- The late Donald Jarvis, who had a feeling entries from Léon Bellefleur, Anne Kahane, ness, while his contemporary, William Raphael, for a spectacle, had persuaded the Canadian Jean McEwen, Alfred Pellan, Jacques de holds his own very well and less noisily with government to acquire some canvases by mas­ Tonnancour, Albert Dumouchel, Louis Ar­ two characteristic works. Jean-Baptiste Roy- ters from the collection of the princes of Liech­ chambault, and Robert Roussil. Audy is well represented by three solemn and tenstein (two Filippo Lippi, a Memling and a Beyond these group exhibitions, the Museum

90 early in 1949 initiated twin solo exhibitions by Alfred Pellan's self-admitted attachment for The Museum's collection of Quebec con­ contemporary artists — budding creators, then an art based on the figurative is rarely in doubt temporary art has grown meaningfully each only novices, who since have achieved fame. in the whole of this entire œuvre. His Jardin year but since 1963, it has been characterized Exhibitions during 1956, for example, included volcanique, acquired by the Museum shortly by vigorous rejuvenation. Thirteen years ago, the names of Jean-Paul Riopelle, Louis Belzile, after it was executed in 1960, is undoubtedly Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Bronfman agreed to con­ Fernand Toupin, and Pierre Clerk. In 1960, the work wherein he comes closest to abstract tribute an annual amount of $10,000 for the Micheline Beauchemin, Jean Goguen, Betty expression. Mixing the most diverse elements, purchase of works by young Canadian artists Goodwin, Jacques Hurtubise, Guido Molinari, such as dry tobacco, silica powder, and poly- aged 35 years or less. Their generosity has and Claude Tousignant, who to-day rank among fila, in his paints, Pellan fashioned a glittering been maintained ever since and Quebec artists the better known artists, showed their work. surface which marked the peak of his search have benefited accordingly. Paintings by Lise More recently, exhibitions staged by the Junior for a form of electric painting — a painting so Gervais, Claude Girard, Jacques Hurtubise, Associates in the Stable Gallery pursued the intense that it would be "impossible to look at". Jan Menses, Louise Scott; tapestries by Miche­ Museum's interest in new art. In addition, major From Fernand Toupin and Fernand Leduc, line Beauchemin and Fernand Daudelin; and retrospective exhibitions consecrated the work who were among the early members of the an impressive group of drawings and prints of the leading Quebec masters in the Museum's Plasticiens, the Museum owns Blanc-Sablons entered the Museum's collection because of principal galleries: Paul-Émile Borduas in 1962, (1964) and Plans érosions (1968), respectively; the fund. Jean-Paul Riopelle in 1963, Jean-Paul Lemieux the works are so different from one another that After a long interruption which allowed a In 1967 and, shortly before the temporary it is difficult to imagine any bonds which might face-lifting and the creation of spaces worthy of closing of the Museum, Alfred Pellan in 1972. have joined them effectively in a single school. the quality and diversity of its collections, the The imperative need experienced by Museum Furthermore, the paintings Rectangles et lignes Museum is opening its doors again. Visitors authorities to express the vitality of Quebec art jaunes (1961) by Guido Molinari, Cercle latin surely will be fascinated to discover under new also became evident in acquisition policy, (1969) by Claude Tousignant and Rondes rou­ lighting the scope and importance of the repre­ making it possible over the years to establish a ges et bleues (1967) by Denis Juneau who, sentation of Quebec's constantly evolving con­ collection which, both in terms of scope and among others representing the second wave of temporary art and, especially, to admire for in the quality of works it has assembled, marks the movement, share a true affinity, despite a the first time the harvest of the years of the significance of artistic development in difference in time, in their common search for transition. Quebec. As early as 1942, the Museum ac­ vibratory effects in colour, in expertly measured quired a small still life by Paul-Émile Borduas and organized spaces. which he had painted the previous year. It was There are many painters who, though they the first work by Borduas to be acquired by a may have manifested sympathy for the aesthe­ public institution. tic ideas of one or another of the militant groups Curators try to keep in close touch with the at some point in their careers, kept a certain evolution of various trends, making every effort distance in order to pursue their original re­ DONALD LINDBLAD AND HIS DOG to obtain, as soon as they appear, the most search. Their presence in the Museum's collec­ notable works: a painting by Marian Scott tion testifies to the validity of their efforts and Karl MacKEEMAN executed in 1942, another by Maurice Raymond the wealth of their contribution. Jacques de dated 1943, a 1954 painting by Fernand Leduc, Tonnancour is represented by three paintings "A chain attached to the dog is staked from a 1969 sculpture by Ulysse Comtois were ac­ evoking an equal number of facets of his vast the centre (of the canvas) to a brush, which is quired, for example, within a few months of production. Trilobé, executed in 1966, master­ his favorite chewy. Attached to the brush is their creation. When, with the passing of time, fully expresses a new orientation. Jean Mc­ another stick with a magic-marker attached to serious shortcomings are observed in the Ewen, Charles Gagnon, Yves Gaucher, Jean it". This is the artist's description of the paint­ representation of certain periods or, more Dallaire, Albert Dumouchel and Jean-Paul Le­ ing methods he had used in collaboration with accurately, of certain artists, a search begins mieux, among many others, each have at least his faithful dog, Thud, both of Bass River, without any hesitation whatsoever in order to two of their works in a collection which em­ Nova Scotia. He goes on to describe how they fill the gaps. Alfred Pellan's Les Pensées of the braces the great majority of Quebec artists of contribute to and control the marks made on years 1935-40 filled a regrettable void in 1956. any significance. the nine-foot canvas sections. The dog, in his The same is true of Riopelle's Autriche, painted Though painting predominates the contem­ attempt to gain control and possession of the in 1954, which entered the Museum's collection porary collection as a whole, the other disci­ brush, causes marks to be made on the canvas. in 1963; of a 1930 abstract drawing by Brandt- plines, particularly sculpture and graphics, are This movement of playing chase and tug-o-war ner which was purchased in 1970; of a 1948 in no way neglected. The 1959 acquisition of on the canvas is expressed automatically by Cosgrove panel, acquired in 1961. Waiting People by Anne Kahane, Robert Rous- the attached marker. The felt tip expresses As a result of such concerted efforts, the sil's Composition and an untiltled work by Ar­ speed in longer and lighter marks, and tight Museum's Quebec collection not only makes mand Vaillancourt formed the nucleus of this agitation where the lines are concentrated in it possible to reconstitute a panorama of the collection. Ten years later, it was enriched areas. In short, it records graphically all the most meaningful movements of Quebec art but significantly through the addition of works by movements of the game. There is no concern often also enables the viewer to rediscover how Henry Saxe, Serge Tousignant, Ulysse Comtois, here with 'self-expression' as with 'the artist artists, and especially their works, avoid the François Dallégret, and Hugh Leroy. Daudelin, controlling the brush directly' and emotionally labels one tends to place on them too readily. Hayvaert, Trudeau, Gnass and Bonet also fig­ applying paint to the surface. In this case the Just as the Automatist credo fails to explain all ure prominently in it. There are few monumental artist sets off a series of events which cause of Borduas' œuvre, neither can the concept of works but creation of a long-sought sculpture a painting to happen and also express some Plasticien painting imprison within a narrow garden suggests the expansion of this body of record of those events as performed in canine framework all the painters sometimes linked work in the near future. frolic. to it, by near or far, because of their formal, The art of printmaking assumed major im­ The 'dog paintings' represent some of the preferably geometric, concerns. portance in Montreal because of the talent of most recent work of Donald Lindblad, shown A range of carefully chosen paintings by the late teacher Albert Dumouchel. He fostered at the Owens Art Gallery at Mount Allison Uni­ Borduas illustrates with remarkable clarity the among his disciples and students a love for versity, Sackville, New Brunswick. The large principal phases in the evolution of his pictoral patient, meticulous work, leading to their dis­ paintings with laminated photographs in the expression. From the 1941 Nature morte to the covery of the infinite possibilities of the various centre occupied one wall to the left of the 1942 gouache, including the austere portrait graphic techniques. The proliferation of re­ entrance. The photo-enlargements depict on of Mme G. (1941), one sees the progressive search and production studios, in Quebec as one canvas a portrait of Thud, the artist's dog, abandonment of figurative pretexts. The 1947 well as in Montreal, underlines the success of and on the other a picture of the dog and Carquois fleuris solidifies surrealist intuition his efforts. They are reflected in the Museum master in action. and the automatic gesture; these gain in scope by the considerable growth of the print collec­ Donald Lindblad was born in Alton, Illinois, in Les Signes s'envolent (1953) and Le Jardin tion during the last decade. The master himself, and studied art at Kansas City Art Institute sous la neige (1954), opening the way to sub­ is represented by more than a score of works before coming to Halifax in 1969. Here he conscious impulses. The artist's great lucidity while hundreds of linocuts, serigraphs, etchings attended The Nova Scotia College of Art and finally imposes itself with renewed intensity in and lithographs illustrate the variety and orig­ Design until 1972. the 1957 Étoile noire, a painting soberly con­ inality of those who continued in his wake, The analytical use of the words "modified" structed on the spatial relationships of modu­ including Richard Lacroix, Roland Giguère, and "unmodified" reoccurs in conversation lations of white, black and brown, bringing Gérard Tremblay, Robert Savoie, Gilles Bols- with the artist and the words themselves often Borduas to the limits of the pictorial phase. vert, and Pierre Ayot. form part of the painting. There are two 'dog 91