Claude Tousignant
Les Taches, 1955
Collection of the artist
Photo: Guy L’Heureux
Lecture circonférentielle, 1961
Collection of the artist
Photo: Guy L’heureux
Stochastique vert, bleu, mauve, rouge, 1965
Donation of Samuel H. Schecter Fondation, 1966
Collection Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montréal
Photo: Richard-Max Tremblay
Modulateur luso-chromatique bleu, 2005
Collection of the artist
Photo: Guy L’Heureux
The Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal presents a major retrospective devoted to Claude Tousignant, a leading light of abstraction. Entitled Claude Tousignant, A Retrospective, the exhibition covers the artist’s career of fifty-plus years through ninety-one works, including drawings, paintings and sculptures, from his famous Monochrome orangé and his Transformateurs chromatiques, Gongs, Accélérateurs chromatiques, Diptyques circulaires, Polychromes and Monochromes series to his most recent pieces. It is the largest exhibition devoted to a single artist ever presented at the Musée. Laid out chronologically, the show takes up six of the museum’s eight galleries as well as the Atrium.
Encompassing the range of modernist expression, Tousignant’s pictorial practice is unique in the history of Canadian art. Throughout his career, the artist has shown an unwavering commitment to abstract art. From the outset, he was closely identified with the development of a resolutely non-representational form of Canadian art. He moved quickly towards a hard-edge approach, (uniform, sharply defined areas of colour), which he used to explore the potential of the colour field and the pure geometric form. Distinguishing himself from most of his contemporaries, he began creating serial compositions in which the whole picture plane is dynamized by the intrinsic and expressive properties of colour. However, it was his famous Gongs, concentric rings of colour, that established his reputation in the late 1960s. He has also always simultaneously explored the realm of sculpture, producing a corpus that ranges from the modest wood constructions of the 1960s to the recent Modulateurs luso chromatiques series of monumental sculptures in painted aluminum, where the intense colour cloaking each piece seems to vibrate in the surrounding space. In these works, Tousignant continues to probe the relationship between colour and light.
Claude Tousignant has left his mark on the history of contemporary art; his target paintings and large-scale compositions have become an essential reference in Canadian abstract painting. But beyond words and theoretical notions, this exhibition invites visitors to experience for themselves the power of his art, in vibrant, living colour.
An extensive program of activities is planned to accompany this major event (see the attached In Connection with the Exhibition).
Biographical Notes
Claude Tousignant was born in 1932 in Montréal, where he continues to live and work. He is one of those very few artists whose lives have been dedicated exclusively to their art. At school, the only classes that interested him were drawing and geometry. In 1948, he entered the School of Art and Design at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Of all his teachers, Gordon Webber (himself a former student of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy) was the most influential in guiding his career, as he introduced him to avant-garde art and modern art theories, particularly those of the Bauhaus. A great many exhibitions have been devoted to Tousignant’s work. Among the most important are his first exhibition at the café L’Échourie, in 1955; the show at the Galerie l’Actuelle in 1956; and The Responsive Eye, at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1965. He represented Canada at the 8th Bienal de São Paulo in 1965. In the following years, the retrospective Claude Tousignant opened at the National Gallery of Canada in 1973, then travelled to galleries including the Musée d’art contemporain, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris; Claude Tousignant: Sculptures was held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1982; and Claude Tousignant: monochromes, 1978-1993 was presented at the Musée du Québec in 1994. In addition to the 1973 retrospective, the Musée d’art contemporain devoted an exhibition to him, titled Dyptiques 1978-1980, in 1980. A number of major museums have Tousignant works in their collections; among those that have kindly agreed to lend them to us for the duration of the exhibition are the National Gallery of Canada, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Musée d’art de Joliette, the Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery of Concordia University, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, the Nickle Arts Museum at the University of Calgary and the University of Lethbridge Art Gallery.
Over the course of his career, Claude Tousignant has won the prestigious Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award (presented by the Canada Council for the Arts for outstanding achievement by mid-career artists), in 1974, and the Prix Paul-Émile-Borduas (the highest visual-arts distinction awarded by the Québec government), in 1989. He was also appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1976.
Credits
Claude Tousignant, A Retrospective was organized by the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. It was curated by Paulette Gagnon, Chief Curator, and Mark Lanctôt, curator, both of the Musée. The Musée d’art contemporain thanks La Presse, its media partner for this major retrospective.
In Connection with the Exhibition Claude Tousignant, A Retrospective
Catalogue
A comprehensive and lavishly illustrated bilingual catalogue has been published to accompany the exhibition. It contains essays by Paulette Gagnon, Mark Lanctôt, Daniel Lanthier and Denise Leclerc, together with a chronology and a selective bibliography drawn up by Martine Perreault. The 250-page publication may be purchased for $49.95 at the museum’s Olivieri Bookstore or from your local bookseller.
Point[s] of View Series
As part of the Point[s] of View series, a guided tour of the exhibition will be offered by curator Mark Lanctôt on Wednesday, February 11 at 6 p.m. in French and at 7:15 p.m. in English. The event is free of charge.
Belles Soirées et Matinées
In conjunction with the Université de Montréal’s Belles soirées et matinées, a lecture/tour will be given by curator Mark Lanctôt in the Claude Tousignant, A Retrospective exhibition galleries. The activity will take place on Tuesday, February 10 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Admission: $15; seniors: $12; students: $10. Registration: 514.343.2020 infobellessoirees@umontreal.ca
Reading Room
A reading room devoted to Tousignant’s work will be set up for visitors in the Eaton Lounge, across from the Media Centre on the second floor.
Art Videos
Gazoduc-TQM Room
Tuesday to Sunday at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., plus Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m.
Additional screenings during Friday Nocturnes at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. on February 6, March 6 and April 3, as well as Easter Monday, April 13, at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.
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February 5 to 28
Driven to Abstraction
Canadian Abstract Art and the Turbulent ’50s
Director: George Mully. Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, 1992
32 min 25
Using newsreel footage from the 1950s, this film incorporates comments from Claude Tousignant and other Canadian artists about abstract art.
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March 1 to 31
Modern and Abstract Painting in Canada
Director: George Mully. Montréal, National Film Board of Canada, 1992
37 min
This compilation comprises two videos from the National Gallery of Canada: Modern Art in Canada – The Beginnings andThe Painter Speaks – Canadian Abstract Painters. The latter consists of archival radio and television footage and film clips, and introduces Canadian artists, including Claude Tousignant.
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April 1 to 30
Blanc de mémoire
Director: Jacques Giraldeau. Montréal, National Film Board of Canada, 1995
99 min
Based on a fictional postcard, this documentary traces the major developments in the history of modern art in Québec. Featuring Claude Tousignant, among others.
Art Workshops
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Ding Gong !
Every Sunday, February 8 to April 5, 2009, at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Abstract-painting workshop inspired by Claude Tousignant’s Gongs series, 1966. Trade in your brush for a roller, and create a circular painting in vibrant colour.
For all, with family or friends
Free for children under 12 (must be accompanied by an adult). No reservation necessary.
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Creative Tuesdays: Chromatic Resonance
February 10 and 17 and March 10 and 17, 2009 (series), 1:30 to 4 p.m.
Participants will paint works inspired by Claude Tousignant’s approach to painting, particularly his series such as Transformateurs chromatiques, Gongs, Accélérateurs chromatiques and the Diptyques circulaires. A different activity is offered each Tuesday.
Art workshops for adults
Cost: $12 per workshop
Registration: manon.guerin@macm.org or tel. 514.847.6266
March Break Day Camp
For children aged 6 to 11
March 2 to 6, 2009
$186.24 (tax included) including materials and before and after-camp daycare
Registration: manon.guerin@macm.org or tel. 514.847.6266
Enjoy a hands-on studio experience at the Musée. Targeted artist: Claude Tousignant.
ACQ-certified day camp
Guided Tours
Guided tours of the exhibition Claude Tousignant, A Retrospective will be offered by the education team on Wednesday evenings at 6, 7 and 6:30 p.m. in French and 6:30 p.m. in English, and on Saturdays and Sundays at 1 and 3 p.m. in French or English.
Virtual Exhibition
Viewing Claude Tousignant
March 22, 2006 to December 31, 2010
http://tousignant.virtuel.macm.org/
This virtual exhibition, created for the show Place à la magie! The Forties, Fifties and Sixties in Québec, features 36 works by the artist. The project was carried out in collaboration with lab)idéeclic! and the Laboratoire de muséologie et d’ingénierie de la culture (LAMIC), with the support of the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec.
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