Marcelle Ferron 1924 - 2001

Acquired directly from the artist by Alexander Orlow for the Peter Stuyvesant Collection, Amsterdam, 1960

West Berlin, Collection Peter Stuyvesant, representing the Netherlands at La Foire Industrielle de l'Allemagne à Berlin-Ouest, September 21 - October 7, 1962

Melbourne (& travelling), The Peter Stuyvesant Collection, Museum of Modern Art, number unknown, 1964

Paris, Le Musée dans l'Usine, Pavillon de Marsan Palais du Louvre, number unknown, September 28 - November 14,1966

Brussels, Le Musée dans l'Usine, Palais des Beaux Arts à Bruxelles, number unknown, February 2 - February 26, 1967  

Ottawa (& travelling), The Art of the Factory/Le Musée dans l'Usine, National Gallery of Canada, number unknown, 1968

 

 

This painting has been viewed under UV and it is in very good condition overall. There is one small touch up in the left turquoise area and would benefit from a complete cleaning. There is craquellere throughout the white painted areas, what might be considered the background of the painting. There are some drying cracks (stable) in the upper left corner. Lifting paint and a small paint loss in the middle of the left edge of the painting (white paint). This should be consolidated in the near future. We would like to thank "In Restauro Conservart Inc." for examining this painting and their original notes are available upon request to Sotheby's.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Alexander Orlow, who recently died at the age of 91, was the force behind the formation of an enormous collection of Contemporary Art which was made over a period of fifty years. The collection became famous and until 2004 was known as the "Peter Stuyvesant Collection".

The Peter Stuyvesant Collection is above all known for its revolutionary beginnings. In 1960, Orlow, with the advisement of former Stedelijk Museum director, Willem Sandberg, invited thirteen International artists to create a painting for the production halls of his factory in Zevenaar, The Netherlands, along the theme of "Levensvreugde", or "Joie de vivre". His aim was to enliven the drab, severe and functional environment and to break its monotony for the benefit of those who spent so many hours of their lives in that setting. The specifications for the works of art were simple: each painting should be impressive in size, vivid in colour with powerful forms and always evident of quality. The concept of 'Art in the Factory' was born, an adventurous experiment that incorporated artistic elements in a social context.

Marcelle Ferron was thrilled to participate in this project as one of the first thirteen artists to receive commissions. This triumphant canvas, Untitled, was her contribution at the birth of the collection that would come to include masterpieces by  Karel Appel, Martin Kippenberger, Robert Mangold, Kenneth Noland, Niki de Saint-Phalle, Victor Vasarely, and others.

In Canada in 1948, at the age of twenty-four, Ferron became one of the pioneers of abstraction and a signatory to the famous Réfus Global manifesto along with Paul Émile Borduas, Jean Paul Riopelle, Jean-Paul Mousseau, and others. It was a bold and decisive move, with dire consequences. Borduas lost his job, the critics of her painting in Quebec were harsh, and the radical reform that they were hoping to foster seemed impossible.

In 1953, she decided to go to Europe to escape the narrow and restrictive society she had grown up in. She left her husband and took her three small daughters to Paris, where she established herself in the suburb of Clamart.

Borduas was the first and strongest influence on Ferron as an artist, however, she quickly formed her own distinct voice and style. In short order she had become an important part of both the expatriate artistic community, which included Fernand Leduc, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Leon Bellefleur, Edmund Alleyn, Marcel Barbeau, and for a time Jean McEwen, but also the French and American artists who called Paris home, Joan Mitchell among them.

As with many of her paintings, especially in this earlier period, Ferron is aiming at a highly structured work. The gestural style, which was quite popular at the time, was not of interest, nor central, to Ferron's concerns. Robert Enright has written about this:

From the beginning, she indicated an instinct for structure over gesture and a predilection for shape over line....all marks on Ferron's canvases are moving towards the formation of some meaning that comes about in the making and that is realized as the structure of the thing made.

This powerful, brilliant and sunny canvas is the epitome of Ferron's achievement in painting.