John Little’s Les jeunes joueurs, rue Bonaparte coin Beaudry, Montréal (Faubourg à m’lasse) is an important time capsule. Looking forward, almost 2 generations from Little’s original composition, Faubourg à m’lasse will be reborn, redeveloped as Le Quartier Molson. Little’s Les jeunes joueurs, rue Bonaparte coin Beaudry, Montréal (Faubourg à m’lasse) is a “compelling” composition of kids playing hockey in the slush of Rue Bonaparte, one wearing a Habs jersey, and laundry hanging on a line strung over an empty lot between two buildings. There is a classic period juxtaposition of the miniskirted young woman and the two fully-covered nuns in the distance. This playfulness belies the fate of the neighbourhood and the foresight of John Little that the urban planning of the day was ill conceived. 

For an artist, to paint a “blighted” blue collar area like Faubourg à m’lasse, it was a brave undertaking. One might have logically assumed that affluent potential patrons would have sparse interest in buying a painting of daily life of what Little referred to as, “the unselfconscious” areas of the city to hang them in their fine Outremont or Westmount homes. 

Little’s importance is that he did capture these modest streets and neighbourhoods, many of which were razed by the wrecker’s ball. In the words of one admirer, “Little could take the most prosaic street scene quietly and almost mysteriously compelling”. It was this allure that allowed Little to develop the extensive canon of paintings documenting streets and neighbourhoods where no other artists of any merit dared tread in the hope of earning a living painting them. 

This painting is a development by Little, in his 1971 style, of a composition originally photographed and drawn in 1961 or ‘62, just prior to the demolition of the entire blue collar area of 5000 residents, 12 grocery stores, 13 restaurants, adjacent to Montreal’s waterfront for the construction of Mayor Drapeau’s Radio Canada monolith surrounded by acres of parking lots. 

As the city continues to evolve and in a contemporary attempt to bring citizens back to the city, this very area is under another transition. Now referred to as Le Quartier Molson, a consortium announced in December, The Quartier Molson will include nods to the past, apparently an effort to recreate the spirit of the old neighbourhood before it was razed for construction of the first Maison de Radio-Canada. We want to recreate a neighbourhood that will be able to welcome all the people who probably would have still been there if the Faubourg à m’lasse had not been left aside”. [1]

We invite buyers of urban art to purchase paintings by John Little who is the only artist in North America during the period of “urban renewal” who dedicated an entire career to the conservation in paint of our urban heritage. 

_________________________________

Footnote: