The Evolution of a Canadian Painter
Born in Montreal, Canada, William Paterson Ewen began his artistic journey by sculpting small wax figures. After serving in a reconnaissance regiment during World War II, he pursued studies at McGill University and later at the School of Art and Design at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. His early work was characterized by figurative painting influenced by Post-Impressionists, a style that eventually shifted toward abstraction. This transition was shaped by his involvement with the Automatiste milieu and his time sharing a studio with artists like Guido Molinari and Claude Tousignant. As a founding member of The Non-Figurative Artists' Association of Montreal, Ewen’s practice moved from the psychic automatism of abstraction toward the hard-edged geometric styles of the Plasticiens.
Technique and the Phenomenscape
In the late 1960s, Ewen moved to London, Ontario, where his artistic methods underwent a dramatic transformation. He moved away from abstraction to develop a signature style involving "phenomscapes"—dynamic, figurative works that revisited themes of geology and space. His technique became highly physical; he used an electric router to gouge into massive sheets of plywood, sometimes scarfed together, creating shallow topographies. He would then paint these textured surfaces with large, rolling gestures. This cathartic process became a hallmark of his career, often focusing on the natural world and the endless phases of the moon. His work is held in significant collections, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
