Yvonne Canu

Considered part of Neo-Impressionism, Yvonne Canu (1921–2008) was born to French parents in Meknes, Morocco. She used the techniques of pointillism in her works, having been strongly influenced by Georges Seurat’s masterpiece L’ile de la Grande Jatte (A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte). She began her studies at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris but was interrupted by World War II. She later attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière with Ossip Zadkine. The future pointillist met with artists such as Élisée Maclet and Tsuguharu Foujita, who introduced her to landscape painting and the principles of impressionism. Canu’s analysis of color focuses on the mixture of primary, secondary and tertiary tones on the palette and on the canvas. Her work often depicts coastal and harbor scenes. She gained most acknowledgment for her work after the Second World War. She was in the direction of pointillism for the most part of her life, up to her death in 2008.