Provenance
Canadian Fine Arts Gallery, Toronto;
Masters Gallery Ltd., Calgary;
Private collection, Calgary
Alfred Pellan moved from Quebec to Paris in 1926 after receiving one of the first Fine Art scholarships awarded in Quebec. Only twenty years old, the young Pellan dove headfirst into the exciting Parisian art world. He took classes at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, sat in on lectures at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and Colarossi and immersed himself fully in
the city. His community grew, and he would rub shoulders with great artists like Picasso, Miro and André Breton, whose influence to his work was notable. In Paris, he would find a creative freedom he had desperately searched for.
By 1938, where we see Pellan paint Don Quixote, the artist was exhibiting widely throughout Europe. His work had begun to take influence from Parisian art movements like fauvism, surrealism and cubism as he developed his own unique painting style. While this new style was dubbed too modern in his home province of Quebec, in France, his work was celebrated. With contrasts of bright colours, morphing into abstracted figures and objects against dark backgrounds, Pellan’s compositions from this period and into the remainder of his career are lively and vibrant.
The character of Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes’ mad knight-errant who wanders in a continuous quest to prove his chivalry, has inspired generations of artists. Here, Pellan has offered us his own interpretation of the epic novel in a style that is uniquely his own.
Alfred Pellan was born in Québec City, Canada, on May 16, 1906 ; he died in Montreal, on October 31, 1988. For more than forty years he had been one of the best known and best loved Canadian artist. He studied at the Québec City School of Fine Arts from…
Alfred Pellan was born in Québec City, Canada, on May 16, 1906 ; he died in Montreal, on October 31, 1988. For more than forty years he had been one of the best known and best loved Canadian artist.
He studied at the Québec City School of Fine Arts from 1920 to 1925 and received all the First Prizes for painting, drawing, sculpture, sketching, publicity and anatorny. He was the first to be awarded a Scholarship from the Province of Quebec, in 1926. He also studied at the National School of Fine Arts in Paris where he stayed until 1940.
In Paris he worked at the Grande Chaumière Studio, Colarossi and Ranson Academies, but most of the time he worked alone. Back in Canada, he was appointed Professor of painting at the Montréal School of Fine Arts from 1943 to 1952. He was back working in Paris from 1952 to 1955.
Paintings, drawings, murals, costumes and sets for the theatre, Alfred Pellan has done it all. His works can be admired in museums as well as public and private collections the world over.
Editions by the Graphic Guild (serigraphies) 1968 – Eléments – Chats & poissons
1971 – Album: La Nuit des Rois (series of eight )
1972 – Oniromancie ; Pop Shop ; Zodiaque ; Au bord de la mer
1973 – Polychromêe B et T ; Polychromée C – M – 0 ; Graffiti ; Bestiaire I
1974 – Album: les Pères Noëls ( series of 10 )
1974 – Les Vigies ; Ripolinade ; Embranchement ; Façonnage ; Repos ; Folies-Bergères
1974 – Crépuscule ; Bestiaire IV&V ; Mutons ; Bambin ; Andante
1975 – Jeunesse – Baroquerie – Sioux – Au bord de la mer B – Les mini-J – Discothèque
PRIZES AND AWARDS (PARTIAL LIST)
1928 Paris School of Fine Arts (atelier Simon)
1935 First Paris Mural Art Exhibition
1948 65th Sprinq Exhibition, Montréal Museum of Fine Arts
1957 Mural for the City Centre Building, Montréal
1959 National Prize – Alberta University
1965 Medal, Arts Council of Canada
1967 Order of Canada and Centenary Medal of the Confederation
1969 Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Ottawa
1971 Member of the Canadian Royal Academy of Arts
1971 Honorary Chairman of the Guilde Graphique
1973 Molson Prize, Canadian Arts Council
1974 Doctor Honoris Causa, Université de Montréal
1984 Paul-Emile Borduas Prize, Province of Quebec
MAIN SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1939 – Galerie Jeanne Bûcher, Paris.
1940 – Montréal Museum of Fine Arts.
1942 – Galerie Bignou, New York.
1954 – Coq Liban, Paris.
1955 – Musée national d’art moderne, Paris
1956 – Montreal City Hall
1957 – Laing Galleries, Toronto.
1960 – “Hommage à Pellan”, Galerie Denyse Delrue, Montréal.
1960 – National Gallery of Canada
1960 – Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
1960 – Musée du Québec, Québec
1961 – Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto
1961 – Roberts Gallery, Toronto.
1968 – Winnipeg Art Gallery.
1969 – Museum of Contemporary Art, Montréal
1971 – Pellan, creation for the Theatre, Roberts Gallery, Toronto.
1972 – Musée du Québec, Québec
1972 – Montreal Museum of Fines Arts
1973 – National Gallery of Canada
1977 – Signal Gallery, Montreal
1981 – The Drawings of Alfred Pellan, National Gallery of Canada
1993 – Alfred Pellan, a Retrospective, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
MAIN GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1934 – Salon d’Automne, Paris.
1936 – Galerie Bernheim, Paris.
1938 – Exposition des Surindépendants, Paris
1941 – Annual Exhibition of the Contemporary Art Society, Montréal.
1942 – Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.
1944 – Group of Canadian painters, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
1946 – First Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, Paris.
1949 – Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto. ,
1952 – International Exhibition of the 26th Biennal, Venise, Italy.
1954 – 10th Salon de Mai. Museum of Modern Art, Paris.
1957 – 35 Contemporary Painters, Montréal Museum of Fine Arts.
1959 – Wallraf-Richarts Museum, Zeitgenossische Kunst, Kôln, Germany.
1963 – Muzeum narodwe w warszawie, Nowoczesne Malarstwo Kandyjskie, Poland.
1964 – Wilson, Pellan, Lemieux, McEwen, Plaskett, Musée Galliera, Paris
1964 – Canadian Painting 1939-1963 , Tate Gallery, London
1964 – Fifteen Canadian Artists, Washington Gallery of Modern Art
1965 – Fifteen Canadian Artists, San Francisco Museum of Arts
1967 – Painting in Canada, Canada Pavilion, Man and His World, Montreal
1967 – Modern Art in Advertising, Art Institute of Chicago
1968 – Dix Peintres du Québec, Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal
1975 – A Survey of Canadian Painting, Art Gallery of Ontario
1979 – Drawing and Surrealism in Quebec, Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal
1983 – The Canadian Landscape, Touring Exhibition, London, Madrid, Paris
1985 Six manières un langage, Musée du Québec, Québec
1988 – Borduas and Others Rebels, Dredsnere Gallery, Toronto
1989 – Pellan, Fortin, Gagnon, Maison des arts de Laval
