Great Artists - Installment 3 : Jean Philippe Dallaire

Jean-Philippe Dallaire ( 1916 - 1965)


"I work according to my intuition and whim..." ~ Jean Philippe Dallaire


Jean-Philippe Dallaire, known as a stylistic painter and illustrator was raised in a working-class family of 15. He started drawing at age 11. While he was known to have attended some art classes, he was known to be self-taught. In 1938, Dallaire left Quebec and went to Paris, where he attended the Atelier d'art sacré, the Lhote studio and worked in his Montmartre studio.

Dallaire is known to have favored the surrealists, most notably Picasso. He worked in oil, watercolor, gouache, crayon, pencil, and mixed media. His best known subjects included fantasy, people and humor.

Dallaire moved back to Canada and taught painting at the Ecole des beaux-arts in Quebec city from 1946 through 1952, and later in Ottawa from 1952-57 where he illustrated films for the National Film Board . Dallaire eventually lived and painted in Montreal and in 1959, moved back to Europe where he lived and worked until his death in 1965 of heart failure.

In 1968, the Musée d’art contemporain, Montreal and the Musée du Quebec, Quebec held a retrospective of his work.

*Please note, this is not a comprehensive biography, click on the links provided for further reading...

The first time I ever came into contact with Dallaires work was a result of photos of his work in a discarded Sotheby's Auction Catalog back in the mid 90's. I was fascinated with his whimsical and spontaneous style.


He has remained one of my all-time favorite artists ever since ... I hope you enjoy this brief snippet of one of Canada's artistic treasures...

(These images posted are some of my favored compositions of Dallaire's and not intended to represent his body of work as Dallaire worked successfully in a number of styles)





"One could say that I do not take life seriously. I always had a fondness for birds, little flags and the texture of fabrics. Perhaps it is a bit decorative, but so what." ~ Jean philippe Dallaire (1957)

"As it is in Surrealism, it is the subconscious that I express, and that is made explicit through form and color in the painting."