Paul-Émile Borduas 1905 - 1960

Private Collection, Washington

We tend to think of Borduas’ canvases as either in convential, medium-sized formats, or even larger. The sense of space in them seems to be a characteristic of his way of painting or, more accurately, his intuitive sense of scale. This may be something that was engrained in him as part of his early training with Ozias Leduc in church decoration, since it would be an important part of his set of skills. This miniature painting in the style of his mature years comes as a total surprise, therefore. Seen in reproduction one might surmise that it might be many times larger than it actually is. The articulation of the palette knife strokes in it are still meticulous and energetic, and the colours rich and deep.

According to the present owner, this painting was bought by her parents at an exhibition of Borduas’ work in a Sherbrooke Street gallery in Montréal, probably in early 1952. They drove out to Ste. Hilaire to pick the painting up, likely from the artist’s studio.