Attributed to Marcel Barbeau, private collection, no coa medium: oil measurements:21"WX21"H framed, very good condition Biography: Born in Montreal, he studied with Paul-Émile Borduas at the Ecole du Meuble in Montreal, and later shared a studio with classmate Jean-Paul Riopelle. At the Ecole Barbeau associated with other students of Borduas. Together, they formed a group which became known as the Automatistes. Barbeau, like the others, was specially interested in psychoanalysis and the use of the unconscious and this interest influenced his work from 1946 to 1957. With them, he signed the Refus Global in 1948 because he and the other signatories wanted to be free of formal structures - a movement which extended far beyond painting.When Riopelle and Borduas left Montreal for Paris and New York respectively and the other signatories formed the Plasticians, he began to investigate his own form of abstraction. He exhibited small ink non-objective paintings in NYC (1952) and also exhibited in Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec City. In 1957 he returned to drawing from live models and experimented with calligraphy, then focused on drawing and collage which continued to be his main interest until 1961.From 1964 to 1968 he researched Op Art and film techniques. He lived in Paris from 1962-1964 where he next exhibited his work. He then moved to NYC where he lived and worked for the next four years (1964-1968), exhibiting his work and in Montreal showing his work at Galerie du Siècle while taking part in group shows in both cities. In 1969, the Winnipeg Art Gallery in collaboration with the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, held a retrospective exhibition of his work.