Le drapeau inconnu – 3e thème, no 12

 
This seminal work from Jean McEwen’s Le drapeau inconnu series asserts itself through the dominance of its thick, vivid red impasto, held in each corner by a complementary colour, and on the sides by richly textured lateral margins. The vermilion pigment simulates the incandescence of fire, while the saffron and ochre hues convey the brilliance of bronze in a multi-tonal paste that contrasts with the cradle of the painting. The azure breaking through in the corners seems to push the flames back toward the centre of the pictorial field, while the cobalt violet bands hold it in on the east and west. This painting is the perfect embodiment of the opulence of materials and formal metamorphosis that characterize his work from 1963 and 1964. This “controlled exuberance,” as Constance Naubert-Riser terms it, introduces coloured fields that undergo a rigorous, serial spatial organization that enables McEwen to explore the full potential of colour and spatial dynamics. The subtle play between forms creates tension within the pictorial space, which, based on its internal configuration and the arrangement of planes, was attributed one of the five key themes in the series, of which there are 23 paintings in total. This painting corresponds to the 12th work of the 3rd theme.
 
During the same period, McEwen produced a series of paintings and watercolours inspired by a call to artists to imagine a new national flag for Canada. Aside from that particular premise, each of those works is a culmination of the formal concerns that he addressed during his career, and Le drapeau inconnu – 3^e thème, n^o 12 is no exception. In 1964, during the 81st Salon du Printemps at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts. McEwen was awarded the Jessie Dow Prize for Best Oil Painting for a work from this series.
 
(Annie Lafleur)