Mid-Century Abstract Oil Painting, Attributed to Pierre Gendron, c. 1959

Blocks of olive and moss green step down the right side of the canvas, set against a smeared column of light tann and a heavy band of charcoal through the center. A single square of bright red sits inside that dark band, the one warm note in an otherwise earthy palette. Much of the paint was dragged on with a knife or stiff brush, leaving ridged edges and patches where the bare canvas shows through. The work is attributed to Pierre Gendron, a Montreal painter born in 1934 who was active with the Non-Figurative Artists’ Association of Montreal. The stretcher is inscribed with his name and the address of the Maison du Canada, the Canadian students’ residence at the Cité Universitaire in Paris. It is signed and dated ’59 lower right and hangs in a slim dark wood frame.