Jean Sylcor Abstract Colour Etching, 1964

Updated September 5, 2026

Artist: Jean Sylcor, pseudonym of Dr. Jean-Marc Cordeau Title: Abstract — as identified on the gallery label Date: 1964 Medium: Colour etching State: 3ème état / Third State Sight: Approx. 19 × 15 in. Framed: Approx. 25.5 × 22 in. Signature: Signed “J. SYLCOR” and dated “64” in pencil lower right; inscribed “3ème état” lower left Provenance: Hugh W. Little Fine Art label verso A strong mid-century colour etching by Quebec artist Jean Sylcor, executed in 1964 during an important early period of his printmaking career. The composition combines biomorphic and geometric forms in ochre, gold, brown, grey and deep blue-violet, with incised linear elements creating a distinctly surrealist character. Artist Biography Jean Sylcor is the artistic pseudonym of Dr. Jean-Marc Cordeau, born in Drummondville, Quebec, on November 5, 1932. The name “Sylcor” was formed from the surnames of his mother, Sylvestre, and father, Cordeau. He earned his medical degree from the Université de Montréal in 1958 while maintaining a parallel career as an artist. From 1961 to 1965, Sylcor lived in Paris, where he studied painting and printmaking. Contemporary Canadian art criticism reported that he studied with Calevert-Brien and Stanley William Hayter, the internationally influential printmaker associated with Atelier 17. Sylcor held European exhibitions before returning to present his work in Canada, where critics particularly remarked upon the unusual range of blues in his engravings. Sylcor worked in printmaking, painting and sculpture, and his early work frequently incorporated surrealist and imaginative imagery. His institutional standing is particularly noteworthy: he was represented in the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal's 1967 “Acquisitions '66: Invention, qualité et prestige” exhibition alongside such major artists as Jean McEwen, Guido Molinari, Claude Tousignant, Fernand Leduc, Jacques Hurtubise and Zao Wou-Ki.

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