Jean McEwan - Selected Work - (1923 - 1999)

At Winchester Galleries on Broad Street

Opening: Thursday , November 2, 2006 5:00 - 7:00 pm

Exhibition continues until November 25, 2006

After Jean McEwen came back from France in 1953 he painted some painterly monochromes which show filiation with those of Sam Francis. A Plasticien geometric influence, while already present to some small degree in McEwen's work, became increasingly evident in it from about 1956. That structuralism balances his automatist, surreal painterly approach e.g. his poetic line and form, drips and nuagism (layering) which were also employed by Sam Francis, Riopelle and others - indeed, in the case of nuagism, by an elderly Monet. McEwen's preeminent stamp was his exploration of colour. There is hardly a single shade he did not try. For sheer diversity and brilliant intuition, McEwen shines as a colourist. He broke new territory for 20th century art.

-Francois-Marc Gagnon, art historian, in conversation with Peter Redpath of Winchester Galleries.

McEwen's paintings are poetical, not religious as were Rothko's. For colour, McEwen was proven to be unequalled for variety, scope and subtlety.

-Constance Naubert-Riser - art historian and the author of 'Jean McEwen, Colour in Depth', the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1988.