signed and dated 1959 lower right; signed and dated on the reverse; titled on the gallery label on the reverse
10.75 × 8.75 in (27.3 × 22.2 cm)
(including Buyer's Premium)
Barry Veenasamy, Ontario
Masters Gallery, Calgary
Private Collection
A pioneering figure of Quebec’s Automatiste movement and signatory of the 1948 Refus Global manifesto, Marcelle Ferron forged a bold and independent path in the development of post-war Canadian art. Her work of the 1950s exemplifies the move from Surrealist-influenced automatism to a more physical, gestural abstraction, grounded in the emotional force of colour.
Painted in 1959, this compact yet powerful oil on panel captures Ferron at a pivotal moment. Having relocated to Paris in 1953, she immersed herself in the European avant-garde and began to develop the vigorous, highly tactile surface that would become her signature. Here, impastoed strokes of white, ochre, and black clash with passages of luminous brick red and hints of green. Working with a palette knife, she layered dense pigment to create sculptural ridges and valleys, allowing light to play across the surface.
