Jul. 04, 2012 - Issue #872: The Beer Issue
Automatiste Revolution: Montreal 1941 – 1960
This was a less common phenomenon in Canada, which makes the accomplishments of the Automatiset movement in Montreal in the mid-1900s that much more notable. The Automatiste Revolution: Montreal 1941 – 1960, now on the AGA's second floor, gives a glimpse into how a creative community visually responded to a need for change in Quebec that predates the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s. Led by Paul-Émile Bourduas and the manifesto he wrote for the group, Le Refuse Global, the painting generated from the collective was less an overt political statement about church and state, and more a rejection of an academic, figurative approach to painting through the tenets of surrealism and abstraction. For his leadership in the movement, Bourduas sacrificed his career and his marriage to speak out against the control of the Catholic Church over life in Quebec, the art academy and the political climate of the province. This also resulted in the dissemination of new, radical ideas to young artists, thirsting for something outside the traditional Quebec art academies, whose work is in this exhibition.
Rejecting the traditional, it is clear through the 60 featured artworks that Bourduas imparted the use of tools, such as automatic drawing and more chance-based drip painting, to activate the subconscious in the generation of artwork. Works including those by Jean-Paul Riopelle—the artist of the group who did gain some international notoriety—convey how this turn to subconscious guided image making was also accompanied by an exploration of abstraction and the unique materiality of paint. Of note are Riopelle's small watercolours—bright flashes of colour under patches of ink wash and layered short lines—work less common than his heavy, layered, and busy oil paintings.
One room in the exhibition is dedicated to illustrating how the Automatistes were more than just painters. Jean-Paul Mousseau and Madeleine Arber's diminutive collages that riff off of the subconscious-inspired Dada artists from Berlin earlier on in the century are accompanied by video and photo documentation of dance performances, as well as Bourduas' prolific writing and the literary component of the movement. Although it is interesting to get a thorough look at Automatiste painting, the artists featured were thoroughly involved in a wide variety of creative production including in theatre, music and television. The interdisciplinary nature of this movement is acknowledged in text, though it is equally telling that the non-painting works are put in a back room, and the exhibition does not state that it is a painting show. This is notable also considering Le Refuse Global focuses on total social revolution and only briefly speaks directly about painting.
The social context of this exhibition, not to mention the opportunity to learn about a way modernist painting broke into Canada, makes it a worthwhile visit. However, just remember painting is only a slice of the Automatiste cultural production pie.
Until Sun, Oct 14
Curated by Roald Nasgaard
Art Gallery of Alberta
vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
Privacy Policy:
Vue respects your privacy. We will not forward your personal information to any other organization except as required by law, and will use your e-mail address only to respond to your comments. We reserve the right to edit and remove comments for length, clarity and/or if they are illegal or inappropriate. Your email address is never shown to visitors to vueweekly.com. Read the whole policy at: http://vueweekly.com/privacy
Comments policy
Comments go online directly without first being seen or reviewed by editors at Vue. Don't personally attack people, don't be defamatory, don't be spam-atory, don't hawk your band, don't pretend to be someone else, be clear, be on topic, be nice. Read our extended comments policy here. »
We use Disqus for our comments system. What's that all about?
We found that managing the comment community at Vue was easier to do with a system like Disqus. If this isn't straightforward to you, get help here.