Jean Paul Lemieux, 1904-1990

By Alice Lindman

1910 Remembered, 1962, oil on canvas

The twentieth century, an era carved with the chisel of progressive modernism, left artists scrambling to define their practice in an everchanging global artistic landscape. Jean Paul Lemieux, born 18th of November 1904, was no exception. The artist’s Canadian roots had a complex relationship with supporting the trunk of his artistic psyche as it branched off in search of an artistic identity. It is therefore appropriate – and is the structure which will be followed for the remainder of this article – to categorise Lemieux’s career into four distinct chapters: Early Influences, Primitivism, Classical Period, and Nordic Expressionism.

Born in Québec City, Lemieux’s childhood was spent alternating between urban and rural landscapes, with his winters in the city and a migration to the countryside for the summer months. As a result, Lemieux’s early influences were of the Canadian landscape, with his art of this period consisting of nature studies inspired by the ‘Group of Seven’ – a group who sought to convey the beauty of Canada’s nature through a style reminiscent of Paul Gauguin. Lemieux’s early years were also spent living and travelling around the United States, where he became enticed by American Social Realism and its depiction of the mundaneness of everyday life. 

In 1937 Lemieux became a teacher at École des beaux-arts de Québec in Québec City and, in 1940, the artist and his wife Madeleine Des Rosiers moved to the countryside. Lemieux’s art consequently took a turn, focusing upon the artist’s newfound passion for preserving Québec’s cultural heritage. This realization commenced the next chapter of his career: Primitivism. The 1940s therefore saw the artist’s humorous reaction to the moral rigidity of Québec. This was an era dominated by the power of the Catholic clergy and defined by Québec’s growing superstitions. In this period, Lemieux took part in the movement for the renewal of religious art, which aimed to integrate religion into secular life, achieved by the artist’s ambiguous sense of depth, vivid colour schemes and child-like drawing style. 

Yet it was not until Lemieux’s Classical Period spanning from 1956 to 1970 when the artist attained grand national recognition for his art. This artistic chapter is characterised by empty spaces, sombre colour palettes, bare horizon lines, and lone figures - elements which convey Lemieux’s existential relationship with the world. Nature was his studio, with Lemieux painting solely en plein air and from memory – which explains his ill-defined, hazy figural depictions. 1910 Remembered (1962) is archetypical of his Classical Period. It captures the artist in a moment of nostalgia; the composition centres on the artist as a child with his parents flanking the either side of the canvas. His face expresses a sense of emotional ambiguity, satisfaction balanced with a sense of melancholy, perhaps indicative of his fond memories of summer paired alongside the psychological strain of his parent’s divorce. Such contradictions epitomised art of Lemieux’s Classical Period; one cannot help but feel strangely comforted by the desolate lonely landscapes Lemieux depicts.  

But Lemieux’s art was to change further as he entered his final artistic stage of Nordic Expressionism. After a successful career of exhibiting art across Canada and taking part in four biennale exhibitions, his work shown at the Bienal of São Paulo, Pittsburgh International Exposition, the Venice Biennale, MoMA in New York, Tate Gallery in London, and the Musée Galliera in Paris, Lemieux was an internationally well-established artist. Yet as Lemieux evolved with old age, so did his art. From 1970 until his death in 1990 Lemieux replaced his eerily calm landscapes of the Classical Period with the anxieties of Nordic Expressionism. Enforced through dark red and blue hues and overpowering figures, Lemieux’s art encapsulates an aura of peril and anguish which mirrors his own fear for humanity. Although the later chapter of his career does not receive equal recognition with his Classical Period, the fact still holds true: Lemieux remains to this day one of the most influential and important artists of his generation and continues to be a source of great national pride for Canada and its people.

Bibliography

Dales, J. “Alone in the Universe: The Landscapes of Jean Paul Lemieux.” Canadian Medical Association Journal 172, no. 3 (February 1, 2005): 383–84. 

Desbiens, Caroline. “Something Straight in Our Landscapes: Looking at the ‘Lemieux Effect’ in Quebec Nationalism.” Ecumene 7, no. 2 (2000): 211–32. 

Grandbois, Michèle. “Jean Paul Lemieux - Style & Technique.” Art Canada Institute - Institut De L’art Canadien. Accessed November 11, 2023. https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/jean-paul-lemieux/style-and-technique/#classic-period.

Grandbois, Michèle. “Jean Paul Lemieux - Biography.” Art Canada Institute - Institut De L’art Canadien. Accessed November 11, 2023. https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/jean-paul-lemieux/biography/.