Jean McEwen

Jean Albert McEwen (1923 – 1999) was a Canadian painter known for his abstract paintings.
Early life.
McEwen was born in 1923 Montreal to a Scottish father and French-Canadian mother. He began his working life as a pharmacist, having received a degree in pharmacy from the University of Montreal in 1947.
Art career.
McKewen was self-taught as a painter. His first exhibition, was the 1949 "Annual Spring Exhibition", a group show Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Following the positive reception of his work as a painter in Montreal, he quit his job as a pharmacist and left Montreal for Paris. In Paris, he visited museums and was introduced to the painters Jean-Paul Riopelle and Sam Francis.
From 1982 to 1994, he was professor at Concordia University.
In 1998, he received the Prix Paul-Émile-Borduas from the Government of Quebec.
In 1987, McEwen's work was the subject of a retrospective Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, and a second commemorative exhibition in 2019.
Collections.
His work is included in the collections of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Museum of Modern Art, New York the National Gallery of Canada, and the Art Gallery of Ontario.