Prisme d'yeux

Prisme d’yeux (prism of eyes) was a manifesto written by Jacques de Tonnancour and issued on 4 February 1948, a few months before the Refus global, by painter Alfred Pellan and a group of painters and sculptors who intended it as a reaction against an overly narrow definition of the avant-garde in painting. Just as a prism reveals that white light is in fact composed of all colours, this movement of artists sought to become a meeting place for several different trends (eyes) in modern art, from the figurative art of Jeanne Rhéaume and Goodridge Roberts to the semi-abstraction of Gordon Weber, to the cubosurrealism of sculptor Louis Archambault and of Pellan and his students (Jean Benoit, Mimi Parent, Gabriel Filion, Pierre Garneau, Lucien Morin and Roland Truchon).

Unfortunately, as a movement, Prisme d'yeux did not have the same kind of cohesiveness as the Automatistes and did not survive. It had only two exhibitions. The first was held at the Art Center (an annex of the Art Association of Montreal) on the day that the manifesto was launched, and lasted just that one day. The second was held at a Montréal bookstore, the Librairie Tranquille, from 15 to 29 May 1948. The movement then disappeared, its members preferring to pursue their individual careers, some of which—for example, those of Albert Dumouchel and Goodridge Roberts—were truly brilliant.