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Léon Bellefleur
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"I paint by instinct without philosophical or pictorial reasoning. It's a world I invent poetically and in exaltation." – Leon Bellefleur
Born: Montreal, February 8, 1910 Died: Montreal, February 22, 2007
Known for both his
graphic work and for his painting, Bellefleur was inspired by the art of Paul Klee, by surrealism and its preoccupation with the subconscious, and by drawings of the children he schooled in Montreal.
Alongside Albert Dumouchel, Jacques de
Tonnancour, and Louis Archambault, Bellefleur became a member of the Prisme d'Yeux led by Alfred Pellan, signing their manifesto in 1948 and exhibiting with the group.
Bellefleur retired from teaching in 1954 and travelled to Europe, setting up a
studio in Paris in1958. There he associated with André Breton and the Surrealist. While there he studied printmaking techniques at the studios of Friedlander and of Desjaubert. He would spend the next ten years going back and forth between Europe and
Quebec, finally settling down in Quebec in 1966 where he continued to paint into his 90s.
In 1951 Bellefleur was part of the second international COBRA exhibition at Liege, Belgium, and became a member of the AUTOMATISTE movement in 1953. In 1960
he represented Canada at the Guggenheim International Contest. The first winner of the Prix Borduas (1977), Bellefleur also received the 1985 annual prize of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and an honourary PhD from Concordia University in 1987. In 1989
Bellefleur was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy.
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Solo Exhibitions |
1946 Maison des Compagnons, Montreal
1950 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
1951 Agnès Lefort Gallery, Montreal
1954 Montreal Museum of Fine Art
1955 Agnès Lefort Gallery, Montreal
1956 Galerie l”Actuelle, Montreal
1957 Galerie Denyse Delrue, Montreal
1958 Galerie Denyse Delrue, Montreal
1960 Galerie Denyse Delrue, Montreal
1961 Dresdnere Gallery, Montreal
1961 Dorothy Cameron Gallery, Toronto
1963 Claude Haeffely Gallery, Montreal
1964 Galerie du Siècle, Montreal
1965 Galerie Connaît, Paris
1966 Galerie du Siècle, Montreal
1966 Roberts Gallery, Toronto
1967 Galerie l’Aterier, Quebec City
1967 Blue Barn Gallery, Ottawa
1968 National Gallery of Canada (retrospective)
1968 Contemporary Art Museum of Montreal, Montreal (retrospective)
1968 Roberts Gallery, Toronto
1968 Art Gallery of Ontario
1969 Galerie Michel Champagne, Quebec
1973 Damkiar Gallery, Hamiltion
1974 Upper Street Gallery, London
1974 Downstairs Gallery, Edmonton
1975 Galerie Les Deux “B”, Saint Antoine sur Richelieu, Quebec
1975 International Gallery, Ribe, Denmark
1979 Galerie Les Deux “B”, Saint Antoine sur Richelieu, Quebec
1981 Galerie Charlotte Frenette, Quebec
1982 Frederick Palardy Gallery, Saint Lambert, Quebed
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Collections |
National Gallery of Canada
Art Gallery of Ontario
Montreal Museum of Fine Art
The Museum of Quebec
Art Gallery of Ontario
London Art Gallery
Hamilton Art Gallery
Tel-Aviv Museum
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Awards |
1951 First prize for Modern painting ,Spring Exhibition, Fine Arts Museum of Montreal
1951 Jessie Dow Award for oils
1977 First recipient of the Borduas Award
1985 Saint Jean Baptiste Society Prize
1987 Honourary Doctorate ,Concordia University
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Selected Group Exhibitions |
1943 Contemporary Art Society, Montreal
1947 Spring Exhibition, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal
1951 Second International COBRA Exhibition, Liere
1951 First Biennial Exhibition, Sao Paulo, Brazil
1952 Canadian Group of Painters, Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto
1955 International Phases Exhibition, Galerie Creuse, Paris
1956 International Engraving and Drawing Exhibition, Lugano, Switzerland
1957 Trente-cinq Peintres dans l”Actualité, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal
1957 Four Painters of Quebec, Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto
1958 Canadian Pavilion, Universal Exhibition of Brussels, Brussels
1960 International Exhibition, Guggenheim Museum, New York
1962 Canadian Modern Art, Spolete, Italy
1967 Three Hundred Years of Canadian Art, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
1978 Tendances Actuelles au Quebec, Contemporary Art Museum, Montreal
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Association Memberships |
Canadian Group of Painters
Canadian Society of Graphic Art
The Non-Figurative Artists’ Association of Montreal
Painting movements: Prisme d’Yeux and Les Automatistes
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