Jean-Philippe Dallaire 1916 - 1965

Dominion Gallery, Montreal

Private Collection, Montreal

A handful of Canadian artists escape easy classification: Emily Carr, Marc-Aurèle Fortin, David Milne and Jean-Philippe Dallaire are among these singular figures. Dallaire's style doesn't fit neatly within any Canadian schools, and attempts to group him within the European Surrealist and the Cobra movements have been elusive.  He may have scavenged along the edges of many styles yet the core of his work remains indefinable and has managed to elude any concrete associations. Instead, his paintings offer a distinctiveness and an originality admired by critics and collectors alike.

In 1956, Dallaire re-located from Paris to Saint-Paul de Vence, in the south of France, where he lived until his untimely death at the age of 49. During this period, he achieved a new-found tonal lightness in his technique and a fancifulness in his subject matter. Painted in 1963, The Infernal Machine, with its joyful carnavalesque motif and enigmatic title, is a splendid example of Dallaire's best work.