Untitled (River View) 1956

Jean Paul Lemieux made this view of a river, probably with oils, and at a time when tonal painting still had real bite. I think about what it must have been like for Lemieux, standing before this vast scene, trying to capture the stillness of the water and the heft of the distant hills. The paint is applied in thin layers, creating a hazy atmosphere that hangs heavy over the landscape, a near monochrome. Look at the way the light reflects off the water, how it almost dissolves the boundary between the river and the sky. You can see this kind of work in many artists who try to synthesize representation and abstraction like Lois Dodd and Catherine Murphy. In a way, Lemieux is like a more melancholic, Canadian version of those painters, as his work is like theirs but also totally unique.