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Concept
Alfred Pellan
Summary
Alfred Pellan (born Alfred Pelland; 16 May 1906 – 31 October 1988) was an important figure in twentieth-century Canadian painting.
Alfred Pellan was born on 16 May 1906 in the Saint-Roch quarter of Quebec City. His mother, Régina Damphousse, died when he was young, and his father, Alfred Pelland, a locomotive engineer, raised their three children. In school, Pellan filled the margins of his notebooks with drawings and excelled at his art classes, with little interest in other subjects. He later changed his surname to "Pellan".
In 1920 Pellan enrolled at the School of Fine Arts of Quebec. He won first prizes in advanced courses and earned medals in painting, drawing, sculpture, sketching, anatomy and advertising. He sold his first painting at the age of 17 to the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.
In 1926 Pellan received the first fine arts scholarship in Quebec, which allowed him to spend several years in Paris and visit Venice. From 1926 until 1930, he studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Besides his mandatory classes, Pellan also sat in on sessions at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and the Académie Colarossi, where he met painter Lucien Simon (1861-1945). When his scholarship ended, he prolonged his stay in Paris, taking on odd jobs as a graphic designer and poster publisher as well as receiving financial support from his father. He won first prize at the exhibition of mural art in 1935 in Paris and rubbed elbows with the most famous artists of the time. Traveling Europe, he became "permeated by the mainstream art of the era". His early canvases, from his first visit to Paris, show a marked fauvist tendency.
In 1936, at the urging of his father, Pellan applied for a professorship at the École des Beaux-Arts in Quebec City. However, he was rejected by the jury, who found him too "modern". With the outbreak of the Second World War, he returned to Canada and settled in Montreal in 1940. In June 1940, Pellan exhibited more than 161 works at the Musée de la Province in Quebec City (now the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec) and at the Art Association of Montreal.
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