Abstraction, 1959
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated 1959 lower right
Signed and dated on the reverse
36’ x 28 1/2”
Provenance: Private collection, Montreal by descent from the artist
During the late 1950s, Marcelle Ferron reached a decisive point in her artistic evolution, producing some of her most dynamic and lyrically abstract compositions. Having settled in Paris in 1953, she was deeply influenced by the European avant-garde while remaining rooted in the expressive freedom of the Automatistes movement led by Paul-Émile Borduas. Her paintings from this period reveal a powerful dialogue between light and structure — broad, confident gestures layered with translucent veils of colour that seem to pulse with energy. The palette often moved toward radiant whites, deep reds, and rich blues, with the paint applied in thick, tactile impastos that conveyed both strength and emotional intensity. These works signaled Ferron’s transition from the gestural abstraction of the 1940s to a more architectural handling of form and luminosity, anticipating the spatial brilliance that would later define her monumental glass works of the 1960s and beyond. Paintings from this period stand among her most sought-after creations, representing the maturity and confidence of one of Quebec’s most important modernists.
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