MAGICAL MOLINARI
A tribute to city’s art pioneers
In the early 1950s, Montreal artists were innovators on a par with the avant- gardes of New York and Paris in their explorations of abstraction — “non- figuration” was the preferred term here — and a young couple established a gallery where all the competing ideologies of abstract art could be exhibited and discussed.
It was a seminal moment in Montreal’s art history. The surrealist- inspired stream- of-consciousness painting style of the Automatistes, founded by Paul- Émile Borduas, was still influential. But the Plasticiens were ascendant, issuing a manifesto in 1955 from a café on Pine Ave. — L’Échouerie — proclaiming the autonomy of the plastic qualities of abstract art: colour and line.
Other artists followed Alfred Pellan’s Prisme d’yeux in rejecting all ideological and esthetic constraints. And there were two competing outside influences: the surrealist- inspired lyrical abstraction of Europe and the geometric abstraction and materiality of the New York abstract-expressionists.
The L’Échouerie, where a young Guido Molinari was organizing exhibitions, was one of the few venues for the new art. On May 28, 1955, Molinari, not yet 22, and his wife, the journalist Fernande Saint- Martin, opened L’Actuelle, a gallery in an empty apartment at 278 Sherbrooke St. W. that would produce 31 exhibitions of non- figurative art over the next 24 months.
L’Actuelle, galerie d’art non-figuratif, 1955- 57, is both a book and an exhibition that has just opened at the Guido Molinari Foundation. The 55 paintings and drawings in the exhibition were all shown at L’Actuelle during its brief existence.
The book, published by Les éditions du passage, is bilingual and includes an essay by Saint-Martin, who was director of the Musée d’art contemporain during the 1970s. Its authors include Gilles Daigneault, director of the Molinari Foundation, the art historian Lise Lamarche and Lisa Bouraly, a museologist.
Non- figurative artists were not held in great esteem either by the public or by museums and galleries, as Daigneault and Lamarche noted in an interview.
Rivalries were intense and artists argued over the purity of their non- figuration but Molinari opened L’Actuelle to all non- figurative artists, creating a hothouse of advanced art. Artists who had solo exhibitions included Borduas, Jean- Paul Mousseau, Marcel Barbeau, Fernand Leduc, Rita Letendre, Ulysse Comtois, Jean McEwen, Fernand Toupin, Louis Belzile, Jean- Paul Jérôme, Léon Bellefleur, Claude Tousignant and Molinari. The Toronto abstract painter Harold Town also had a solo show.
Saint- Martin wrote for the “women’s pages” at the La Presse, a job that took her to fashion shows in New York, where she and Molinari saw the latest art and cultivated friendships with American artists. On one trip, Molinari persuaded Borduas, still bitter about the loss of his teaching job in Montreal following the publication of Refus global in 1948, to exhibit his work at L’Actuelle.
Works were sold and a cheque sent to Borduas in Paris, where he had just resettled. Borduas sent a letter to Molinari, thanking him: “The cheque, the complimentary newspaper clippings ... These are the things that make me feel good.” Daigneault found the note in a filing cabinet at the foundation.
L’Actuelle functioned like an artist- run centre, Lamarche said. Artists paid a small sum to be shown, or gave their time in work. The gallery was open six days a week, some nights until 10 p. m. It was here that another group, the Non- Figurative Art Association of Montreal, was formed and held its meetings.
The exhibition curators have made some great discoveries. A Toronto dealer sent a framed Mousseau painting along with a photograph of the painting hanging in L’Actuelle with three others by Mousseau. The photographs of Robert Millet, who documented many of the exhibitions and vernissages, were discovered and appear in the exhibition.
Events during the exhibition include an afternoon tea with Françoise de Repentigny, wife of the La Presse art critic Rodolphe de Repentigny ( also known as the painter Jauran), who will discuss the 1950s art scene
OBSERVATIONSON ART
Now to March 31: After 10 years, Donald Browne is closing his gallery in the Belgo Building with a final exhibition in the style of a 19th- century art salon, with the works of gallery artists covering the walls to the ceiling and with sofas for people to sit comfortably and observe the work.
It is also a place for discussion, Browne said in an interview, underlining his theme that “art is an experience.” Too many people see art as an investment, he said. “But art is about contemplation. Who knows what something will be worth in five years?”
Browne said that collectors put too much emphasis on the artist’s reputation. “Collectors want to be able to explain to visitors what their piece is about, but they don’t have the language” that comes from studying art history.
“I’ve sold pieces by my artists across Canada, but collectors are intimidated by the intellectual content and language,” he said. “I could have taken on artists with less political and critical content, but I like that what draws us in, teaches us something.”
“Art twists you and gives you what you are not looking for.”
Conversation Piece: A Last Exhibition continues to March 31 at Galerie Donald Browne, 372 Ste- Catherine St. W., Suite 528.
ONTHE GO
Now to April 9: Eleven Montreal artists and 12 Swiss and international artists associated with Geneva University of Art and Design present videos on the theme of motion as an action or a proposition. Motion continues to April 9 at the Galerie de l’UQAM, 1400 Berri St. Details: galerie. uqam. ca.
RECOGNIZING TALENT
March 18: Isabelle de Mévius, owner of 1700 La Poste, continues her tradition of showcasing important artists who haven’t received the recognition they deserve with an exhibition devoted to a sculptor. Jean- Pierre Molin: Entre terre et ciel continues to June 19 at 1700 La Poste, 1700 Notre Dame St. W. Details: 1700laposte.com.
SHOWCASEFORK O OP
March 19 to April 3: Wanda Koop, winner of a Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts show, opens an exhibition, Wanda Koop: Paintings + drawings ( 1984- 2016), at Galerie Division, 2020 William St. Details: galeriedivision.com.