signed and dated 1964 lower right
32 × 34 in (81.3 × 86.4 cm)
(including Buyer's Premium)
Private Collection, Winnipeg
Donalda Johnson, “Eyre With Honour”, Winnipeg, 1994, page 8
Ivan Eyre remembers that around 1960–1962, “I began to reevaluate my work and decided to begin afresh....I worked at ridding myself of all influences.” Drawing mostly on memory and dream imagery, Eyre created many surreal, post-apocalyptic scenes in the early 1960s, including “Composition in Yellow”. While we can recognize various human body parts and silhouettes, most of the forms are heavily stylized and tightly arranged, and as a result only somewhat discernible to the eye. This realm of unidentifiable figuration, yet separate from abstraction, is a unique and intriguing characteristic of Eyre’s work. Eyre created over one hundred canvases in this dream-like style in the early 1960s, though many of the works ended up being destroyed by the artist.
