Jean Dallaire was born in Hull, Quebec and received his formal training at the Hull Technical School, as well as at Toronto’s Central Technical School. In 1938 he went to Paris where he studied at the Ateliers d’Art Sacrée with Maurice Denis and at the Académie André Lhote. In France when the war broke out, Dallaire was interned by the Nazis and returned to Canada only in 1945. Dallaire’s mature work demonstrates the influence of European modernists such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, but also that of Canadian artist Alfred Pellan. Dallaire taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Quebec City from 1946-1952, and worked as an illustrator for the National Film Board of Canada from 1952-1956. He is best known for still lifes, such as the one shown here, which demonstrate his concern with the relation of colour and form.