Abstract

Montreal during the 1950s within the constructs defined by the 'avant-garde.' geometry are discussed. The first group, the Plasticiens, was active between 1954 and 1956 and was comprised of Louis Belzile (b.1929), Jean-Paul Jérôme (b.1928), Fernand Toupin (b.1930) and Jauran (1926-1959)--the pseudonym of art critic Rodolphe de Repentigny. The second group, Espace dynamique, undertook a more rigorous and systematic investigation of the reductivist formal program initially developed by the Plasticiens. Espace dynamique was active from about 1956 and included Denis Juneau (b.1925), Guido Molinari (b.1933), Claude Tousignant (b.1932) and Jean Goguen (1928-1989), who was later replaced by Luigi Perciballi. Through an analysis of the artists' own writings, the manifestos they produced, the formal program demonstrated in their paintings, and the critical response their work received within its historical milieu, this thesis examines the ideological differences and shifts in emphases that arose between the Plasticiens and Espace dynamique. Evolving definitions of 'avant-gardism' are assessed by attending to issues such as the varying interpretations of Mondrian's Neo-Plasticism, the shift that occurred in the turn from Paris to New York as the centre of international 'avant-garde'