Lemieux's Solitude, oil on masonite, 14" x 13", Steven Rhude

Jean Paul Lemieux's painting "The Nun" was born into existence in nineteen sixty seven. It was the phenomenon of the summer of love, primarily in San Fransisco, but celebrated also throughout parts the rest of the US and Canada. A counter culture then held the belief that "A new concept of celebrations beneath the human underground must emerge, become conscious, and be shared, so a revolution can be formed with a renaissance of compassion, awareness, and love, and the revelation of unity for all mankind."[1]

  Throughout the twentieth century, Jean Paul Lemieux lived with the power of the Catholic clergy's long and sustained role in Quebec politics, culture and the domestic environment. Inspired by the Italian primitives, Lemieux found a way to both capture the moral rigidity and loneliness, (yet with an undercurrent of humour) of those called to a religious order and monastic life. It paved the way for the solitude inherent in his mature work.

For a long time Lemieux had painted sur le motif: directly and immediately from nature, often outdoors, but from the end of the 1950s on he worked in his studio, without models, using only daylight for illumination. “I am painting … an interior world. I have stored up a lot of things.”5  His free approach was in many ways similar to the practice of abstract painters: “You are guided by the picture much more often than you guide it. And that can lead to results completely unlike what you may have intended or planned.”6 -  https://www.aci-iac.ca/jean-paul-lemieux/technique-and-style#Primitivism

[1] San Francisco Oracle, Vol.1, Issue 5, p.2

Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Saving of Everett Lewis

Image
“One believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved” (St. Paul, Rom. 10:10). On October 23rd, 2018 I met and interviewed Reverend Stephen Wade in Paradise, Nova Scotia. In 1978, New Years Eve day, Reverend Wade met and provided spiritual consolation hours before Everett Lewis was murdered. Port Lorne, Nova Scotia, 2013 - a power outage owing to a winter storm. He went out to his garage to start up his generator which was in need of fuel. The power was out and emergency sirens could be heard through out the region. It was one of those winter nights.  I'm reminded of the power of gasoline, my own can stored in a shed ... pull back the plastic lock to release the cap into motion and then turn the cap counter clockwise to expose the flammable agent... did it a thousand times. The odour staining my nostrils, as I eventually fill my lawn mower gas tank to cut my grass and maintain a common, and collective suburban exercise. An im...
Read more

What really happened in Marshalltown?

Image
"In 1851 including idiots and imbiciles, there was one insane person for every 593 of the population; in 1861 this ratio had risen to one in 504; while in 1871 there was no less than one to 309." He further noted that "the advance of the population was at 40 percent, while the number of those with unsound mind increased 169 percent in the same period."  - Dr. DeWolfe, Report of the inspector of Humane Institutions April1, 1955 to March 31, 1956, Province of Nova Scotia Poor Farm, oil on canvas, 60" x 128", Steven Rhude      This time of year dodging the weather is an art form in itself - the two hour journey from Wolfville to Marshalltown on a two lane highway must be timed accordingly and approached with caution. Winds from the north mountain can easily buffet a car as one contemplates their destination. On other occasions, engulfed in white outs, I've turned back; "keep your eye on the road mister." That said, driving through...
Read more

Scene of the Crime (My trip to the AGNS)

Image
Installation view of Maud Lewis House, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, photo, Steven Rhude Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Whenever the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is mentioned, invariably the Folk Art painter, Maud Lewis and her house comes to mind. Probably the most photographed house in Nova Scotia, this quaint little dwelling was restored to its former glory beginning in 1996 with funds from the federal Department of Canadian Heritage, and a little help from Scotia Bank.  At the time, Scotia Bank was on a marketing quest to show a new regional face to the world. An image of connection with the common folk that was certain to garner a favorable response as the big bank aligned itself with arts and culture and the roots of Nova Scotia. And yet ironically, nothing was mentioned about the origins of the house to the public. Rather, the marketing campaign was designed to focus on resurrecting Maud Lewis’s colourful home and her cheerful disposition for an eager pub...
Read more