Recently, I visited the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton NB. The gallery's collection is diverse. I was pleased to see work by Les Automatistes.
André Breton and his stream of consciousness writing was an underlying inspiration for the painter Paul-Émile Borduas. Borduas took Breton's concept and translated into painting by painting spontaneously and without preconception.
From April 25 to May 2, 1942, Borduas displayed 45 of his paintings at the Ermitage Théâtre in Montréal. The showing resulted in attracting a few followers to the method. The followers were draw from his students at the École du Meuble, and included Marcel Barbeau, Jean Paul Riopelle and and Roger Fauteux.
This group was joined by other, for example, Pierre Gauvreau and and Fernand Leduce who were at the École des beaux-arts in Montréal.
In addition, Jean-Paul Mousseau from the Collège Notre-Dame joined them.
Borduas produced a manifesto,
Refus global, that challenged the traditional values of Québec ("To hell with the holy-water-sprinkler and the tuque!
The
Beaverbrook Gallery has works by Borduas and Riopelle along with other works by Canadian artists such as Emily Carr. Carr's
Indian Village at Alert Bay is a personal favourite.
The collection crosses time and continents with works by Constable, Gainsborough, Pratt (Mary & Jack) and many others.
We made a second trip so that we could spend sometime in the Canadian Folk Art Gallery. Folk artists look at daily life, both past and present and in their own unique way interpret what they see and experience.
