Sans titre by Jean-Paul Mousseau

Provenance:
Private Collection, Montreal (by descent)
Private Collection, Toronto

Jean-Paul Mousseau’s “Sans titre” is a fine and delicate work that exemplifies the early days of abstraction in Quebec, recalling the influences of automatic writing and drawing from the unconscious. The artist first exhibited his work in 1944, at age 17, upon joining
the Contemporary Arts Society. He then took part in the Spring Exhibition at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts in 1945, the year “Sans titre” was completed. A student of Paul-Émile Borduas, Mousseau was steeped in the thriving avant-garde art milieu of Montreal at the time and was aligned with the surrealist direction taken by the Automatistes.