Les Automatistes

Automatistes, Les
The painter Paul-Émile BORDUAS, inspired by the stream-of-consciousness writing (écriture automatique) of French poet André Breton, transposed this idea onto canvas, PAINTING spontaneously and without preconception. The Automatiste movement was born when Borduas showed 45 of these gouaches at the Ermitage Théâtre in Montréal from 25 April to 2 May 1942. He gained a few followers from among his students at the École du Meuble, including Marcel BARBEAU, Jean Paul RIOPELLE and Roger Fauteux; others, such as Pierre GAUVREAU and Fernand LEDUC, came from the École des beaux-arts in Montréal, and Jean-Paul MOUSSEAU came from the Collège Notre-Dame. The group met in Borduas's studio to discuss Marxism, surrealism and psychoanalysis, all subjects looked down on by the church.

The Automatistes held a number of exhibitions, notably in New York in 1946 and in Paris in 1947. Their first Montréal exhibition was on Amherst St in April 1946, and they were designated as "Automatistes" at their second Montréal showing, on Sherbrooke St in February 1947. What had begun as a dissident student group was now an important cultural movement.

In 1948 Borduas released the manifesto REFUS GLOBAL, which served as a preface for a series of texts by Claude GAUVREAU (poet and brother of Pierre), Françoise Sullivan (a dancer), Bruno Cormier and Fernand Leduc, and expressed the views of the Automatistes. It extended the movement's aesthetic intuitions into the political field, "resplendent anarchy" being the mirror of the spontaneous painting encouraged by the group. The group dispersed after the manifesto was published, for Riopelle and Leduc had already left for Paris. Their last show - "La Matière Chante" organized by Claude Gauvreau - took place in 1954.

Author FRANÇOIS-MARC GAGNON

Suggested Reading
D. Burnett and M. Schiff, Contemporary Canadian Art (1983); François-Marc Gagnon, Paul-Émile Borduas. Biographie critique et analyse de l'oeuvre (1978); J. Russell Harper, Painting in Canada (1977); D. Reid, A Concise History of Canadian Painting (1973).

Links to Other Sites
Paul-Émile Borduas
Watch the Paul Émile Borduas Heritage Minute from the Historica-Dominion Institute. See also related online learning resources.

Canadian Women in the Arts
A great reference source about Canadian women artists. Includes teaching guides. Part of the "Celebrating Women's Achievements" series from Library and Archives Canada.

Jean-Paul Riopelle
A profile of abstract painter and sculptor Jean-Paul Riopelle. Also includes images of his works of art. From the National Gallery of Canada.

Le Refus global: Revolution in the Arts
A multimedia CBC feature about the impact of "Le Refus global" on Québec society and culture.

Fernand Leduc
View a biography and works of art by painter Fernand Leduc, recipient of the 2007 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts.

Paul-Émile Borduas
A biography of Paul-Émile Borduas, Groupe Automatiste leader and principal author of the Refus globalmanifesto. From the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.