Autumn Red

About Autumn Red

This colourful abstract watercolour on paper by Paul Fournier is predominantly red.

His elegant and colourful artwork has granted Paul Fournier a place amongst the finest abstract expressionist artists in Canada. He works without a sketch and chooses colours as he paints—a highly intuitive process that results in uniquely colourful artwork. Traces of Fournier’s influences—the storied abstract artist Jack Bush and Matisse, the French artist and leader of the early 20th century Fauvist movement can be seen in his lyrical form and inspired palette. A swath of bright red dominates the picture plane in this composition. Several smaller shapes created with gestural brushstrokes in purple, green, yellow, pink and deep blue add dynamic detail. A wash of pale blue allows the red to pop.

“As a painter, I’m doing the same thing with colour, shape and movement that a musician does.” Paul Fournier

‘Fournier, as a highly intuitive artist with a profound belief in the expressive power of his materials, always makes us aware of the sensuality of paint, the excitement of the act of painting.” Karen Wilkin, Art critic

Paul Fournier was born during the Great Depression in Simcoe, Ontario. He first studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1959 and went on to study printmaking at McMaster University in Hamilton in 1967. Fournier also received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Sir Wilfrid Laurier University in 1996, where he’d also been the artist in residence. He became a member of a group of artists in Toronto who were mentored by Jack Bush and together explored modernist expressionism. During a career that spans six decades, Fournier has had solo exhibitions in several Canadian cities and in the U.S. His work is held in private collections in North and South America and Europe. Public collections include the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington.