Éclatement, 1963 by Rita Letendre
Rita Letendre
Éclatement, 1963
oil on canvas
signed and dated 1963 lower right; signed, titled and dated "Paris 1963" on the reverse
18.25 x 21.75 in ( 46.4 x 55.2 cm )
Auction Estimate: $25,000.00 - $35,000.00
Price Realized $45,600.00
Sale date: November 27th 2024
Acquired directly from the Artist
Private Collection, Montreal, 1963
By descent to a Private Collection, Montreal
Heffel, auction, Toronto, 1 June 2022, lot 24
Private Collection, Toronto
“Remembering Rita Letendre,” AGOinsider, Art Gallery of Ontario, 26 June 2017, https://ago.ca/agoinsider/remembering-rita-letendre
"Éclatement" vibrates with intensity and a sense of frenetic movement. Letendre creates this gestural work by laying down bold, expressive oil paint with her palette knife. As Letendre stated, “I had started doing a series of black and white wedges, the wedge that became more and more arrows. Then at one moment I made lots of lines near the arrow to create a feeling of vibration, that must vibrate into space, the eternal space...that vibration of a space that moves...these arrows are moving through space. I wanted, by the speed of it, to create vibration around.” "Éclatement" is a testament to Letendre's ability to create dynamic and engaging works of art.
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Rita Letendre
(1928 - 2021) RCA
Canadian painter, muralist, and printmaker Rita Letendre was born in Drummondville, Quebec, in 1928. She is of Iroquois descent. Letendre and her parents moved to Montreal in 1941. She settled in Toronto in 1963. In part, Letendre is self-taught but she studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Montreal for year and a half. While in school she was introduced to the Automatistes due to pamphlets announcing the locations of their new paintings.
Encouraged by Borduas, Mosseau, and Ferron’s art, Letendre began exploring similar motifs in her paintings and began exhibiting with the group from 1952-55. In 1955 she exhibited in “Espace 1955” at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Sharing a studio with fellow Automatiste painter and sculptor, Ulysse Comtois, Letendre became the subject of an article by the Weekend Magazine on non-objective Montreal-based painters. Then, in 1959, Letendre was included in the Third Biennial Exhibition of Canadian Art. In the following year the National Gallery of Canada included Letendre in their Non-Figurative Artists of Montreal exhibit that traveled throughout Canada. In 1962, Letendre received a travelling grant from the Canada Council and traveled to Paris, Italy, Israel, Spain, Belgium, and Germany.
Using a variety of techniques and media such as brush, spatula, pastel, silkscreen, and airbrush, Letendre was a leading member of the colourist movement. Exhibited in over sixty-five solo exhibitions, Letendre’s work can be described in three distinct periods. Her first period, known as the Montreal years, was inspired by her first meeting with Borduas and was a rich exploration of self-discovery. Letendre’s second period was inspired by Russian-born sculptor Kosso Eloul, who later became her husband. Her final period was rooted in mourning and love.
Letendre’s works vary in size from grand murals that are sixty feet by sixty feet in size to small projects on silkscreen. These works are collected throughout the North American continent by governments and public and private galleries and organizations. Letendre’s work has been exhibited in Europe, Israel, Japan, and throughout North America in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.
Literature Sources:
"A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume II”, compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1979
Roumanes, Jacques-Bernard. “Rita Letendre: Le tableau ivre.” Vie des Arts 45, 183, 2001
Andersen, Marguerite. “Rita Letendre: Énergie et luminosité. L’art du féminin, 12 2004
We extend our thanks to Danie Klein, York University graduate student in art history, for writing and contributing this artist biography.
