Provenance
Private collection, Toronto;
Canadian Fine Arts, Toronto;
Masters Gallery Ltd., Calgary;
Private collection
Bellefleur spent most of his early painting career teaching elementary school, and so when he retired in 1954, he was able to devote himself to his practice and left for Paris to study engraving that same year (1). Bellefleur was a signatory of the Prisme d’Yeux in 1948, a response to the Refus Global Manifesto that challenged the Automatises’ “overly narrow definition of avant garde in painting” (2). In this period of his career, he was heavily influenced by Pellan, Kandinsky, Miro and other Surrealist artists, and drew from the subconscious to create work. Much of Bellefleur’s compositions from this period saw centralized abstracted figures, glowing against dark, misty backgrounds. Organic figures swirl and glow in Sans Titre No. 1, contrasting beautifully against the misty background from which they emerge.
Described by Paul Duval as a bridge between the prevailing influences of Paul Emile Borduas and Alfred Pellan, Montreal -born Léon Bellefleur is remembered for his richly textured abstractions and a historically precocious sense of fantasy. After receiving his teaching diploma in 1929 Bellefleur enrolled in evening classes at the…
Described by Paul Duval as a bridge between the prevailing influences of Paul Emile Borduas and Alfred Pellan, Montreal -born Léon Bellefleur is remembered for his richly textured abstractions and a historically precocious sense of fantasy. After receiving his teaching diploma in 1929 Bellefleur enrolled in evening classes at the Ecole des Beauxs-arts de Montreal until 1938 where he developed an inclination for surrealist ideas and techniques. These interests were heightened in the 1940s through his close association with Pellan, and in 1948 Bellefleur signed the manifesto Prisme d’yeux, exhibiting regularly with this short lived group. In 1953 Bellefleur joined the Automatiste movement spearheaded by the notorious Paul Emile Borduas. A relationship which exposed him to automatic writing and drawing. Much time was spent in France in the 1950s studying engraving and during a later trip he submersed himself deeply in the ideas of surrealist founder Andre Breton. The National Gallery of Canada mounted a retrospective of Bellefleur’s work in 1968 and in 1977 he became the first artist to receive the Prix Borduas. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Concordia in 1987 and appointed to the Royal Canadian Academy in 1989.
