Jean Paul Lemieux
Encyclopedia
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. He was born in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...
, where he also died (Colin S. Macdonald claims he died in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
). He was raised in Quebec City until 1916, when his family moved to Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. In 1917, the family returned to Quebec and settled in Montreal.
From 1926 to 1934, Jean Paul Lemieux studied under Edwin Holgate
Edwin Holgate
Edwin Holgate , was a Canadian artist, painter and engraver. Holgate played a major role in Montreal's art community, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where he both studied and taught...
and others at the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal
École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal
École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal was an educational institution founded in Quebec in 1922. The Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society was instrumental in its creation....
(Montreal School of Fine Arts). In 1929, he traveled to Europe with his mother. In Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, he studied advertising and art, frequents other artists. Lemieux took teaching positions from 1934, first at the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, then in 1935 at the École du meuble (Furniture School). In 1937, he moved to Quebec City and taught at the École des Beaux-Arts de Québec until his retirement in 1965. His connections at that period include other major artists associated with these schools, such as Alfred Pellan
Alfred Pellan
For the federal district in Laval, Quebec, see Alfred-Pellan Alfred Pellan, was an important figure in twentieth-century Quebec painting. He was born in Quebec City in 1906. From the age of fourteen until his graduation in 1926 he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts de Québec...
and Paul-Émile Borduas
Paul-Émile Borduas
Paul-Émile Borduas was a Canadian painter known for his abstract paintings. He was also an activist for the separation of church and state, especially for art, in Quebec.- Biography :...
.
Jean Paul Lemieux received several awards for his works, including the Louis-Philippe Hébert prize in 1971 and the Molson Prize
Molson Prize
The Thomas Henry Pentland Molson Prize for the Arts is awarded by The Canada Council for the Arts. Two prizes are awarded annually to distinguished individuals. One prize is awarded in the arts, one in the social sciences and humanities...
for the Canada Council for the Arts in 1974. In 1968, he became a Companion of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
. He was also a member of the Royal Canadian Academy. In 1997, he was posthumously made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec
National Order of Quebec
The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as l'Ordre national du Québec, and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec...
.
Artistic career
The Musée national des beaux-arts du QuébecMusée national des beaux-arts du Québec
The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec is a museum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada gathering approximately 25,000 works essentially produced in Quebec, or by Quebec artists, some of which dating from the 18th century. It also houses a library since 1987...
and other sources divide Jean Paul Lemieux's career into five periods:
- the Montreal period (1926–1937), marked by realistic naturalism influenced by Quebec regionalists and, later, European postimpressionist modernism.
- the Primitive period (1940–1947), focused on "anecdote and accumulated scenic detail" (MNBAQ).
- the Minimalist period (1951–1955), with cubist structures, signals a major turning point in the artist's career.
- the "Classical" period (1956–1970), with a "figurativeness dear to Lemieux, albeit fuelled by the sources and practices of abstract art" (MNBAQ). It is in this period that Lemieux produced the paintings of lonely figures in desolate, simplistic landscapes for which he is so well-known today.
- the "Expressionist" period (after 1970), presenting humanity living in a bleak, hopeless world..
Images and galleries
- Painting: The Visit
- Gallery from the Canadian government's Cybermuse project.
- Small gallery from Virtual Museum of Canada.
- Small gallery from mme-butterfly.com.
Information
- Short biography (in French) from the Université de SherbrookeUniversité de SherbrookeThe Université de Sherbrooke is a large university with campuses located in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada and Longueuil, a suburb of Montreal approximately west of Sherbrooke. It is one of two universities, and the only French language university, in the Estrie region of Quebec.In 2007, the...
website.
Criticism and interpretation
- The introduction to the Gaëtan Brulotte book (see: References), written by Anne HébertAnne HébertAnne Hébert, CC, OQ , was a Canadian author and poet. She is a descendant of famed French-Canadian historian Francois-Xavier Garneau, "and has carried on the family literary tradition spectacularly."...
.