With influences from the cubist, surrealist and expressionist painters from the early twentieth century, Dallaire incorporates humour and caricature in “Le Coq.” The artist lived in Paris throughout different periods of his life, exposed to the works of Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró and Salvador Dali. The reduction of form, simplification of line, and oblong shapes of colour within the rooster figure are indicative of the artist’s practice of incorporating multiple tokens of abstract technique into his compositions.
Perhaps a nod to the symbolism of the rooster in French culture as a symbol of national pride, the rooster was a theme the artist returned to multiple times throughout his career. Here, the bird has a folk quality with its animation and energy, airing on the side of distress and creating an interesting tension between the scene captured and the style employed.
