Marlborough Godard, Toronto/Montreal
Private Collection, Nova Scotia
A Montreal native, Jacques de Tonnancour had an early interest in drawing, particularly in illustrating nature. When choosing a career, he was torn between entomology and art. Ultimately, he enrolled at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal in 1937, though he abandoned his studies three years later, deeming the school too conservative. De Tonnancour’s early paintings were influenced by The Group of Seven and Goodridge Roberts, but after a trip to Brazil in the mid-1940s he shifted to portraits and still lifes with a more abstract approach, inspired by Picasso and Matisse. Completely non-representational images appeared in the early 1960s. “Échos et vestiges de l’âge de bronze #7,” (1975) exemplifies de Tonnancour’s experimental phase in his mature abstract works. He worked in collage and other mixed media, and developed “squeegee”, “hieroglyphics”, and “painting-writing” techniques. As the title suggests, this mixed-media painting presents abstract shapes that evoke remnants and artefacts from a prehistoric era. The shapes are depicted in a way as if one is viewing them through a microscope; this examinational approach may be foretelling of de Tonnancour’s decision to retire from painting in 1982 in order to photograph and collect insects.
