Jean-Paul Mousseau

Tellu modulation chaude
Pastel on paper, 1963
55 x 75 centimetres, 22 x 30 inches

Provenance:
Private collection, Sainte Adele, PQ.
Exhibited:
Galerie Agnes Lefort, Pastels d’huile Tellu-Modulations. 6th. -18th. May 1963. Montreal.
Art Gallery of Toronto, Seventeenth Annual Exhibition and Sale of Contemporary Canadian Painting, Sculpture and Graphics: Quebec-Ontario 1963 25th. Oct. -11th. Nov.1963. #106.
National Gallery of Canada, Canadian watercolours, drawings and prints,1964. Galerie nationale du Canada, Aquarelles, estampes et dessins canadiens, 1964. 5th. June - 7th. Sept. 1964. Ottawa.

Availability: SOLD

Biography:

Jean-Paul MOUSSEAU ( 1927-1991 )

Studied painting at the age of thirteen while at the College Notre-Dame in Montreal under Frere Jerome ( Jerome Paradis 1902-1944 ) in the early 1940s. He became a student at the Ecole du Meuble in Montreal during 1945 - 1946. He was introduced to Paul-Emile Borduas by Frere Jerome around the same time and became a member of the group of painters known as the Automatistes. The Automatiste group at that time was comprised of the teacher and inspirational leader of the group Paul-Emile Borduas ( 1905 - 1960 ), Marcel Barbeau ( 1925 - ), Roger Fauteux ( 1920 - ), Pierre Gauvreau ( 1922- ), Fernand Leduc ( 1916- ) Jean-Paul Mousseau ( 1927-1991 ) and Jean-Paul Riopelle ( 1923 - 2002 ). April of 1946 was the first Automatiste exhibition by the group in Montreal, it was held at 1257 Rue Amherst. That same year Mousseau contributed 5 original drawings for the first Automatiste book published in Quebec, Les Sables du Reve by Therese Renaud in a limited edition of 250 copies, the text and the illustrations are inspired by Surrealism. In 1948 Mousseau was one of sixteen signatories to the Manifesto REFUS GLOBAL ( Total Refusal ) a document that was instrumental in changing Quebec society. In 1954, Mousseau created a work titled La Marseillaise, which arguably might be considered his most important painting, exhibited at 1955 Winnipeg Show a national juried exhibition, organized by the Winnipeg Art Gallery, intended to represent the highest standards of current painting in Canada. Jurors were Maxwell Bates of Calgary and Jean Ostiguy of Ottawa. La Marseillaise was awarded first prize and triggered The Great Winnipeg Controversy.
Mousseau was a multidisciplinary artist creating not only paintings but photo collages, discotheque interiors, ceramics, fiber glass lighting, set designs and costumes.
His public art is undoubtedly what he is best known for, the large ceramic circles in the Montreal Peel Metro station and the spectacular fibreglass mural completed in 1962, 4.57 m high by 22.86 m wide and weighing approximately 1,360 kg installed in the entrance of the headquarters of Hydro Quebec on Rene-Levesque Blvd. in Montreal.
Exhibitions:
1944 Exhibition, Students of Frere Jerome, College Notre-Dame, Montreal
1946 Montreal Museum of Fine Art
1947 Automatistes ,Galerie du Luxembourg, Paris; Exhibited with Riopelle in
Montreal
1952 Automatistes, Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal; Biennial Exhibition of
Canadian Painting, National Art Gallery, Ottawa
1953 Automatistes, Place Des Arts, Montreal
1954 La matiere Chante,Galerie Antoine, Montreal
Biennial Exhibition of Canadian painting, National Art Gallery,Ottawa; Winnipeg
Art Show, Wins First Prize; Young painters of Canada, in Belgium
1955 Espace 55, Museum of Fine Art, Montreal; Galerie L Actuelle, Montreal;
1956 Galerie L Actuelle, with Riopelle, Borduas, Sam Francis, McEwen and others
1957 Exhibition of the Association of Non-Figuratives Artists of Montreal
1959 The Association of Non Figurative Artists, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
1962 Festival of the 2 Worlds, Spoleto, Italy; Luminous Sculptures: Museum
of Montreal Galerie Agnes Lefort
1964 Museum of Montreal Salon du Printemps Galerie Toninelli, Milan, Italy;
1967 Retropesctive, Aspects, Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal
1971 Borduas and the Automatistes, Grand Palais, Paris
1980 Contemporary Art Society, Edmonton Art Gallery
1983 Association of Non-Figurative Artists of Montreal, Concordia University
1997 Retrospective, Mousseau, Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal
2009 The Automatiste Revolution: Montreal 1941-1960, Varley Art Gallery, Unionville.