Elliott Louis Gallery Canadian Fine Art

Marcel Barbeau  Bio  ·     ·  Exhibitions:   "Vertiginous Limits "


Painting for me is a necessity.  As much an act of liberty and passion as it is an act of joy.  My works are never fully planned beforehand; they are projections towards the future, invitations to go beyond until they fullfill their final form.

My most recent works set themselves apart from the current trends in visual arts, which generally reject such notions as beauty and transcendence.  If I had to name a domain that I feel close to, it would have to be new deconstuctivist architecture because of the complexity of its expression.

Starting from simple lines and forms with pure colors, I seek to create shifting images of lightweight structures involving their own deconstruction and metamorphosis.  Unlike the constructivists whose approach was based on science and reason, my "anaconstructions" stem from an organic articulation of space that is life-like in its complexity; transcends rationality and appeals to a sense of passion, to a sense of magic and wonder - much like my automatist works from the 1940's and early 1950's.

Experimenting as I do, my creations are like gifts that are given to me.

 


Click on the thumbnails below to view a larger image.

Marcel Barbeau - Study for "Le reve du pont" - click for larger image

Study for "Le reve du pont"
9 x 11.5 Inches 
felt paper collage
$1,700
Marcel Barbeau - Vol au confins de l'azur - click for larger image

Vol au confins de l'azur
20 x 26 Inches 
gouache on paper
$4,800
Marcel Barbeau - De nos sens et de nos reves - 1959 (About our senses and our dreams) - click for larger image

De nos sens et de nos reves - 1959 (About our senses and our dreams)
13.5 x 10.25 Inches 
felt pen and ink on paper
$3,900
34.5 x 26 cm
Marcel Barbeau - L'etoile furtive (2001) - click for larger image

L'etoile furtive (2001)
21.5 x 29.75 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$4,900
55 x 73 cm
Marcel Barbeau - Un beau matin de mai - click for larger image

Un beau matin de mai
18 x 21.5 Inches 
acrylic on canvas
$3,900
Marcel Barbeau - Trace amoureuse (2002) - click for larger image

Trace amoureuse (2002)
39.5 x 39.5 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$8,800
100 x 100 cm
Marcel Barbeau - L'impasse vertige - click for larger image

L'impasse vertige
26 x 32 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$6,200
Marcel Barbeau - Les enjeux (1995) - click for larger image

Les enjeux (1995)
32 x 40 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$8,800
81 x 100.5 cm
Marcel Barbeau - Paris, les blancs manteaux (2002) - click for larger image

Paris, les blancs manteaux (2002)
39.5 x 39.5 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$8,800
100 x 100 cm
Marcel Barbeau - L'arc di dolle (1962) - click for larger image

L'arc di dolle (1962)
25.5 x 19.5 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$8,600
65 x 49.5 cm
Marcel Barbeau - Que s'egare la clarte (2001) - click for larger image

Que s'egare la clarte (2001)
20 x 25.5 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$4,300
50 x 64.5 cm
Marcel Barbeau - Orchidee (2002) - click for larger image

Orchidee (2002)
60 x 60 Inches 
acrylic on canvas
$19,900
152.5 x 152.5 cm
Marcel Barbeau - Les arcs du desir - click for larger image

Les arcs du desir
24 x 24 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$6,600
60 x 60 cm
Marcel Barbeau - Brisant le moule (Breaking the Mold) 1962 - click for larger image

Brisant le moule (Breaking the Mold) 1962
24 x 18 Inches 
acrylic on canvas
$7,800
60.5 x 46 cm
Marcel Barbeau - La mer ferme ses ailes - click for larger image

La mer ferme ses ailes
19.5 x 25.5 Inches 
acrylic on canvas
$4,300
Marcel Barbeau - Plus vaste que la nuit - click for larger image

Plus vaste que la nuit
51 x 63 Inches 
acrylic on canvas
$16,800
Marcel Barbeau - Les Recoins de Jade - click for larger image

Les Recoins de Jade
19.75 x 25.5 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$4,300
50 x 65 cm
Marcel Barbeau - Sourire etoile - click for larger image

Sourire etoile
26 x 32 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$6,200
50 x 65 cm
Marcel Barbeau - Lauderdale (2005) - click for larger image

Lauderdale (2005)
15.75 x 19.75 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$3,000
40 x 50 cm
Marcel Barbeau - Rosier-feuilles (1946) - click for larger image

Rosier-feuilles (1946)
19.25 x 29.75 Inches 
oil on masonite
$55,000
49 x 75.5 cm

Rosier-feuilles, oil on board on masonite, Number PE.19 In the artist's comprehensive catalogue. Reproduced on page 90 of the catalogue  "Refus click here for more...
Marcel Barbeau - Plage distante (1997) - click for larger image

Plage distante (1997)
39.5 x 31.5 Inches 
acrylic on canvas
$8,100
80 x 100 cm
Marcel Barbeau - Vitrail-fleur (2001) - click for larger image

Vitrail-fleur (2001)
25.75 x 36.5 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$6,400
65 x 92 cm
Marcel Barbeau - Clarte dense (2005) - click for larger image

Clarte dense (2005)
23.25 x 23.25 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$4,500
59 x 59 cm
Marcel Barbeau - Bayshore (2005) - click for larger image

Bayshore (2005)
18 x 21 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$3,600
46 x 55 cm
Marcel Barbeau - Geste - click for larger image

Geste
7.5 x 9.25 Inches 
china ink on paper
$5,500
Marcel Barbeau - Terre mouvantes (2001) - click for larger image

Terre mouvantes (2001)
26 x 36.75 Inches 
acrylic on linen
$6,500
65 x 92 cm
Marcel Barbeau - Plus vaste que la nuit ( 2005) - click for larger image

Plus vaste que la nuit ( 2005)
52 x 63 Inches 
acrylic on canvas
$16,800
132 x 160 cm
Please email the gallery to view more works by Marcel Barbeau.


Biography
Marcel Barbeau was born in Montreal on February 18th, 1925. Between 1942 and 1947, he studied painting and sculpture with Paul-Emile Borduas at the Ecole du Meuble in Montréal, where he was a student in furniture design. At that time and until 1953, he regularly visited his master's studio where he met other young artists and intellectuals, all members of the Automatistes. As a member of that major Canadian contemporary art movement, he participated in all exhibitions featuring the group and signed its manifesto,"Total refusal". Some art historians consider that he was and remains its most innovative artist. He also was a junior member of Montreal Society of Contemporary Art with which he exhibited between 1945 to 1948.

From 1958 to 1974 and 1991 to 1996, he lived and worked in the United States and in Europe. Visiting new York (1951) and San Francisco (1957), he met with some artists from the Abstract Expressionists movement and the Pacific School. In Paris, he met again with Fernand Leduc from the Automatists' group and he associated with minimalist and cinetic artists from Galerie Iris Clert where he exhibited. Among these artists, Lucio Fontana signed an introduction for his one-man show catalogue at Iris Clert gallery. In New York, Barbeau consorted with members of the french cinetic movement, GRAV (Groupe de recherche d'art visuel), and exhibited with the American op art school throughout the United States. After his retrospective show at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 1969, he spent a year in Southern California where he created photography and sculpture projects. While living in France between 1971 and 1974, he started his major series of monumental sculptures and did his first performances. Since then, he shares his time between painting and sculpture. In 1991, he returned to Paris where he then worked for a few months, annually until the spring of 1996. In the fall of that year, he established himself in Bagnolet, a Paris suburb, continuing to visit Canada each summer.

Mainly known as a painter, he has been involved in most visual art Media: drawing, sculpture, print, photography and performance. He has created many monumental works. His art has been exhibited in Canada, in the United States, in Europe and in Northern Africa where he had many one man shows. He has also participated in several international exhibitions. His works have been widely commented on in newspapers, magazines, catalogues and art books published in Canada, France and United States and in a fully illustrated monography, Marcel Barbeau: Fugato/ Le regard en fugue, published by CECA  (Montréal, 1991), and in France at the Cercle d'art (Paris, 1994). He was also the subject of a few  art films and videos among which renown film maker Manon Barbeau’s  Barbeau “Libre comme l’art”. This was a 49 minutes film on his work and career co-produced by  Informaction and National Film Board of Canada (2000).

In 1963, he received the Zack Purchase Prize from the Royal Canadian Academy. In 1973, he was given a Lynch-Staunton Foundation Grant by Canada Council. In 1985, he was awarded the sculpture purchase award of the McDonald Canada Art Competition. He was invited to join the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in August 1992. In 1995, he received the Order of Canada as an officer(?). In 1998, Canada Post reproduced one of his works on a stamp as part of its series in honor of the automatist painters, signatories of the manifesto Total refusal. He was the special guest artist at the 2003 Montreal Jazz Festival which published a limited numbered print, Django Blue, on this occasion.

His works are in many private, public and corporate collections in Canada, in the United States and in Europe among which are: the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), the British Museum (London), the Chrysler Art Gallery (Norfolk, Virginia), the Lyon Museum of Fine Arts (Lyon, France), the National Gallery of Canada ( Ottawa), the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal), the  Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art (Montreal), Quebec National  Fine Arts Museum (Quebec), the Rose Art Museum,(Waltham, N.J.) and  the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam).



Solo Exhibitions
2007    Marcel Barbeau and William Armstrong, Virginia Christopher Fine Arts, Calgary, Alberta, November.
2006    "Vertiginous Limits", Elliott Louis Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia. April.


Group Exhibitions
2006    Boîtes de cigares peintes - Collection de Claude Bouchard”, Galerie d’art de l’Alliance française, Ottawa,
                March  7  to  31 2006.

                Art et Société au Canada 1913-1950, a travelling  exhibtion organized by the National Gallery of Canada,  
                started at the Glenbow Mueum, Calgary in March 2006  and  circulated throughout Western Provinces and
                Ontario until 2008.

                Art Reach, une expositiion traveling exhibtion organized by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. Started in spring
                2006.

                Explosion of Forms and Textures: Quebec Art of the 1960s from the Bas-Saint-Laurent Museum, Triangle
                Gallery, Calgary, June- July 2006.

                Quebec Connection, Summer Art Stroll coordinated by the Triangle Gallery, Calgary, Summer 2006.

                Children's Corner / Le coin des enfants, Galerie Bellemare, Montreal,  December 2006 et January 2007.

2007    Barbeau, Goodwin, Hurtubise et Serra, Galerie Bellemare, Montreal, February 3 to 24 2007.

                Démystifier l’art,/Demystifyaing Art : L’abstraction au Québec hier et aujourd’hui, Galerie d’art Stewart Hall,
                Pointe-Claire, Québec,  May  2007.

    Rétrospective des 25 ans du Symposium international d'art contemporain de Baie Saint-Paul,
    Centre d’exposition de Baie Saint-Paul, Baie Saint-Paul, Québec, Canada, June 2 - January 6 2007.



Public and Corporate Collections
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Agence de coopération culturelle et technique de la Francophonie, Paris
Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
Quebec Archives, Quebec
UQAM Archives, Montreal
Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario
Art Gallery of Peterborough, Peterborough, Ontario
Montreal  Art Collection, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Art Bank, Canada Art Council, Ottawa, Ontario
Montreal Public Library, Montreal, Quebec
Canada National Library, Ottawa
Carleton University, Ottawa
France National Library , Paris
Quebec National Library, Montreal
Jacques Doucet Library, France National Library , Paris
British Museum, London
Baie Saint-Paul Exhibition Centre
Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginie, U.S.A
Confederation Centre of the Arts, Art Gallery and Museum, Charlottetown, Prince Edouard Island
Loan Collection, Quebec National Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec
Canada Art Council, Ottawa, Ontario
City of Joliette, Joliette, Quebec
City of Saint-Laurent (Hôtel de ville), Saint-Laurent, Quebec
City of Lachine (Marina de Lachine), Lachine, Quebec
Dalhousie Art Gallery, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova-Scotia
École des Hautes études commerciales, University of Montreal, Montreal
Greater Victoria Art Gallery, Victoria, BritISH-Columbia
UQAM Gallery, University of Quebec in Montreal, Montreal
Hart House, University of Toronto, Ontario
Canadian Institute, Quebec
Istituto Culturale e l'Arte, Catania, Italy
Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario
Lamton Gallery, Sarnia, Ontario
Laurentian University Museum and Art Centre, Sudbury, Ontario
Hôtel des Postes, Laurier Museum, Victoriaville, Québec, Canada
Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal
Lethebrige Art Gallery, University of Lethebridge, Alberta
London Art Gallery and Museum, London, Ontario
Mc Gill University, Montreal, Quebec
Mc Intosh Art Gallery, Western University, London Ontario
Mc Inzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan
McLaren Art Centre, Barrie, Ontario
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Toronto
Memorial University Art Gallery, Saint-John, Newfoundland
Ministry of External Affairs of Canada, Ottwa, Ontario
Montreal  Contemporary Art Museum, Montreal, Quebec
Musee a"Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg
Acadian Art Museum, University of  Moncton, New-Brunswick
Joliette Museum of Art, Joliette, Quebec
Mont-Saint-Hilaire Museum of Art, Quebec
Civilisation Museum, Quebec, Quebec
North Coast Museum, Sept-Îles, Quebec
Lachine Musuem, Lachine, Quebec
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Lyon Museum of Fine Arts, Lyon, France
Montreal Fine-Arts Museum, Montreal, Quebec
Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts, Sherbroke, Quebec
Bas St-Laurent Museum , Rivière-du-Loup, Québec
Quebec National Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec, Quebec
La viellePulperie (Saguenay-Lac St-Jean Museum), Chicoutimi, Quebec
Louis-Émond Museum, Péribonka, Quebec
Rimouski Regional  Museum, Rimouski, Quebec, Canada
Charlevoix Regional  Museum, La Malbaie, Canada.
National Gallery, Washington (DC)
New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, New-Brunswick
Nova Scotia Art Gallery and Museum, Halifax
Nickle Art Museum, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
Owen Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New-Brunswick
Robert Mc Lauglin Art Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario
Rodman's Hall Arts Centre Collection, Saint-Catherine, Ontario
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts
Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Quebec
Simon Fraser Museum, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Holland
Stratford Art Gallery, Stratford , Ontario
The Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta
The Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Toronto City Corporation (Hôtel de ville), Toronto, Ontario
University of  Moncton, Moncton, New-Brunswick
University of  Montreal
Universitéy of  Sherbrooke
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts
Windsor Art Gallery, Windsor, Ontario


CORPORATE COLLECTIONS

Aird and Berlis, Toronto, Ontario
Banque Nationale, Montreal, Queybec
Bombardier  Inc, Montreal, Quebec
Deloitte & Touche, Toronto, Ontario
Éditions Gaétan Morin, Montreal, Quebec
Esso Resources, Calgary, Alberta
Fédération des caisses populaires et d'économie Desjardins, Leyvis,
Quebec
Gaz métropolitain, Montreal, Quebec
General Electric Canada Limited, Mississaugua, Ontario
Gottlieb and Parson, New York City, USA
Harel, Drouin & Associés, Montreal, Quebec
INCO, Toronto, Ontario
Industrielle-Alliance, Montreal, Quebec
Loto-Quebec, Montreal
McDonald's Restaurants Canada, Toronto, Ontario
Norcen Resources Ltd, Calgary, Alberta
Power Corporation, Montreal, Quebec
Reader's  Digest Canada, Montreal, Quebec.
Richard Brown Baker, New York City, New York
Union-Vie, Drummondville, Quebec
Shell Canada Limited, Calgary, Alberta
Spectra, Montreal
Teleglobe Canada inc., Montreal, Quebec
Via Rail, Montreal, Quebec.


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