Jean Albert McEwen
(1923 - 1999) RCA
Previously Sold Works
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
Les fiançailles no. 5
oil on canvas
signed and dated 1976 lower right; signed, titled and dated on the reverse
72 x 72 ins ( 182.9 x 182.9 cms )
Auction Estimate: $25,000.00 - $35,000.00
Price Realized $88,500.00
Sale date: May 29th 2018
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
Rose traversant les jaunes
oil on canvas
signed and dated 1978 lower right; titled on the reverse
88 x 68 ins ( 223.5 x 172.7 cms )
Auction Estimate: $25,000.00 - $35,000.00
Price Realized $88,500.00
Sale date: November 19th 2019
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
Tableaux sans paroles #3
oil on canvas
signed, titled and dated 1973 on the reverse
40 x 40 ins ( 101.6 x 101.6 cms )
Auction Estimate: $40,000.00 - $60,000.00
Price Realized $59,000.00
Sale date: September 24th 2020
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
Envers de Paysage
oil on canvas
signed and dated 1981 lower left; signed, titled and dated on the reverse
71 x 71 ins ( 180.3 x 180.3 cms )
Auction Estimate: $20,000.00 - $30,000.00
Price Realized $27,600.00
Sale date: November 23rd 2017
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
Auto-portrait ocre et rouge #6
oil on canvas
signed, titled and dated 1980 on the reverse
70 x 50 ins ( 177.8 x 127 cms )
Auction Estimate: $25,000.00 - $35,000.00
Price Realized $21,240.00
Sale date: June 15th 2022
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
Untitled Abstract
watercolour
signed and dated 1952 lower right
14 x 20.5 ins ( 35.6 x 52.1 cms ) ( sheet )
Auction Estimate: $12,000.00 - $15,000.00
Price Realized $12,650.00
Sale date: May 25th 2017
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
Abstract Composition
watercolour
signed and dated 1956 lower left
13.75 x 10 ins ( 34.9 x 25.4 cms ) ( sheet )
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
Abstract Composition
watercolour
signed and dated 1956 lower right
13.75 x 10 ins ( 34.9 x 25.4 cms ) ( image )
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
Vert-noir-vert
oil on canvas
signed, titled, dated 1965 and inscribed “Le vert paradis des amours enfantines...” and “Est-il déjà plus loin que l'Inde et que la Chine? / Baudelaire” on the reverse
72 x 70 ins ( 182.9 x 177.8 cms )
Auction Estimate: $18,000.00 - $22,000.00
Price Realized $14,455.00
Sale date: November 20th 2018
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
Ni plus ni moins
oil on canvas
20 x 16 ins ( 50.8 x 40.6 cms )
Auction Estimate: $6,500.00 - $7,500.00
Price Realized $5,175.00
Sale date: June 18th 2013
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
Le printemps
colour lithograph
signed and dated 1973 lower right; numbered 52/75 lower left
30 x 22.25 ins ( 76.2 x 56.5 cms ) ( sheet )
Auction Estimate: $300.00 - $500.00
Price Realized $540.00
Sale date: April 27th 2021
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
Courbes de nuit
lithograph in colours
signed, titled, dated 1974 and numbered 247/250 in the lower margin
16 x 12 ins ( 40.6 x 30.5 cms ) ( sheet )
Auction Estimate: $500.00 - $700.00
Price Realized $420.00
Sale date: May 30th 2023
JEAN ALBERT MCEWEN
Le printemps
colour lithograph
signed, dated 1973 and numbered 75/75 in the lower margin; titled, dated and numbered to the gallery label on the reverse
30 x 22.25 ins ( 76.2 x 56.5 cms ) ( sheet )
Auction Estimate: $300.00 - $500.00
Price Realized $390.00
Sale date: December 14th 2021
Consignments
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Jean McEwen Biography
(1923 - 1999) RCA
Montreal-born painter Jean McEwen is most well-known for his abstracted paintings that focus on light and color relationships. Born in 1923, McEwen trained as a pharmacist at the University of Montreal and wrote poetry for Québec based literary journals, such as Gants du ciel. McEwen’s initial art career was inspired by a film, The Moon and Sixpence, which is based off of the life and work of Paul Gauguin. As a self-taught artist he was most interested in the feelings that paintings gave him and the exploration of color and light. While his paintings are abstract in nature, some may find that their eyes piece together imagery, such as water damage or ice-covered windows when viewing his works. During his lifetime his paintings toured the United States, Japan, Brazil, and throughout Canada.
McEwen was mentored by Automatiste artist, Paul Émilie Borduas in the early 1950s. At Borduas’ suggestion, McEwen traveled to Paris for a year where he was mentored by Jean Paul Piopelle. Together they traveled to Spain, Italy, Holland, and spent the summer in Brittany, France. After spending this time in Europe, he began working in a style that incorporated ideas from the French Impressionists as well as Abstract Expressionists who were popular in the United States. McEwen worked in a style that favored symmetrical compositions, and subtly referenced bodily movement and its relationship to nature.
Throughout the early 1950s, McEwen began regularly appearing in galleries in Québec and Ontario. His first solo exhibition took place in Ottawa at Galerie Agnes Lefort, and he appeared in Montreal’s Galerie Actuelle for an exhibition on non-figurative art in the 1950s. In 1960, he published his first book, Midi Temps J’aime-Poème en Couleur. Based off of his time spent on the east coast, McEwen shared poetry and his drawings in color in his publication. Until 1961, McEwen was working full-time for a Montreal based pharmaceutical company. After receiving a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, he reduced his hours spent at the pharmacy to focus on painting. He continued working at the pharmacy part-time until the 1970s.
After leaving the pharmaceutical industry, McEwen accepted lecturer positions at the Université du Québec à Trois Rivières and at Concordia University’s Department of Visual Arts. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts dedicated the first retrospective to McEwen’s art in 1987. In 2019, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts put on an exhibition, Untamed Colour: Celebrating Jean McEwen, to honour the artist and showcase the selection of the artist’s works that the museum has collected over the past two decades.
Literature Sources: The Canadian Encyclopedia, “Jean McEwen” Historica Canada, Accessed June 18, 2020
Ian McGillis, “Discovered Again: MMFA Honours Jean McEwen 20 Years After His Death, “Montreal Gazette, September 27, 2019
We extend our thanks to Danie Klein, York University graduate student in art history, for writing and contributing this artist biography.
