Belle-Île-en-Mer

Paul-Émile Borduas encourages the young Jean McEwen to stay in Paris and to contact Jean-Paul Riopelle once there; what he did from 1951 to 1952. This decision will have a decisive impact on McEwen's artistic approach for the following years. He visited  several exhibitions of avant-garde painters where he meets the headliners such as Sam Francis and Jackson Pollock. He discovers through his encounters the all-over style of abstract expressionism that he will apply to his works from that moment on.
The artist produced a multitude of works in watercolor and ink during the summer of 1952. These often called Belle Île en Mer is the place in Brittany where he spent the season with Jean-Paul Riopelle.

Learn More about Jean McEwen >