Attributed to Leon Bellefleur, it does not have a COA. Medium: oil canvas, beautiful abstract 1970. 31 x 21 inches. Provenance: private owner.
Biography: 1910 - 2007. Leon Bellefleur was a very important Canadian painter, printmaker and graphic artist who worked into his nineties. His career includes a solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada, and group exhibitions with the Guggenhiem International and CoBrA*. His works are included in most exhibitions that examine the scope of 20th Century Canadian art and in most recent books that discuss Canadian modern art. His paintings are in many major Canadian museums and he's won numerous prestigious awards. Among his distinguished associates were Andre Breton (1), Alfred Pellan and Paul-Emile Borduas.He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, lived most of his life in or near there and died there. He also lived in Paris for ten years (1954 - 1965) and for five years in Deschambault, Quebec (1965 - 1970), about 175 miles east of Montreal.His mediums were oil, watercolor, gouache, pen and ink, brush and ink, graphite, etching, serigraph, lithograph and mixed mediums. His subjects are color, shape, texture, dreams, the subconscious and fantasy. His primary style is Surrealism* in a vein similar to that of Klee, Kandinsky and Miro. AskART has some very good illustrations of his mature work. Quote: "Mystery works and is everywhere in life, around us and even in us, especially in art, I feel. A work without mystery is not a work of art; it is just a decorative object, made with a great deal of craftsmanship, but without soul or inner life, without mystery, in fact, and without wonder!" - Leon Bellefleur.His formal education began with three years at Jacques Cartier Teachers College. He graduated with a Teacher's Certificate in 1929 and taught high school for 25 years in Montreal. His formal art education includes evening drawing classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Montreal (c.1929 - 1936). After retiring from teaching in 1954, he moved to Paris where, he set up a studio and studied etching with Johnny Friedlaender (1954 - 1955); and later lithography at the Ateliers Desjaubert (1958 - 1959).(2)His associates included André Breton whom he met in Paris; and Alfred Pellan, Albert Dumouchel, Jacques de Tonnancour, Jeanne Rhéaume, Paul-Emile Borduas and Goodridge Roberts, all of whom he had known in Canada since the early 1940s.He was also a member of several artist groups such as the Contemporary Arts Society* (1943), Prisme d'Yeux* (1948), the Canadian Society of Graphic Art* (1955), the Canadian Group of Painters* (1955), and the Non Figurative Artists' Association of Montreal* (1956). He was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts* in 1989.

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Signed [Artist Name] : In cases in which the signature is legible in the lot, this work is described as-is with no attributions given.

By [Artist Name] : The work is by the artist.

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In the manner of [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but was designed deliberately to emulate the style of the artist.

After [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but is a deliberate copy of a known work by the artist.

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Follower of [Artist Name]: A work by a pupil or a follower of the artist (not necessarily a pupil).

American, 19th century: This work was executed by an unknown hand, and can only be identified by origin (i.e., region, period).

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