Sold for: $55,250

PROVENANCE
Estate of Andrée Lavigne-Trudeau, Montreal
Canadian Post-War & Contemporary Art, Heffel Fine Art Auction House, May 17, 2011, lot 23
Acquired from the above by an Important Private Collection, Montreal

LITERATURE
Pierre Landry et al., Mousseau, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, 1996, similar works reproduced pages 110, 111 and 112

Towards the end of the 1950s, Jean-Paul Mousseau took a new direction in his artistic approach. After 20 years of painting, Mousseau wanted to go beyond the limits of the opacity of paint and the support of canvas. This decision was certainly very audacious for the artist, and the innovations that resulted were impressively modern and in synch with the cultural revolutions of the time. Mousseau became involved in different collaborative projects: set design for the theatre, architectural murals and design art in schools, metro stations, corporate and government buildings and restaurants, to name only a few. Throughout his career, from the Automatist period until the multidisciplinary projects of the 1960s, the notion of light had always been at the core of his work, probably more so than the notion of space. The lamp fixtures he created during this time are an integral part of the creative and modern energy of Mousseau and his will to further explore the artistic possibilities of light and colour. The fibreglass and coloured resin lamps became true “light sculptures," utilitarian objects with a timeless aesthetic appeal.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars