Marcel Barbeau
Marcel Barbeau at his atelier in Estrie, Sutton, Quebec in 2001
Born
Christian Marcel Barbeau

(1925-02-18)February 18, 1925
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
DiedJanuary 2, 2016(2016-01-02) (aged 90)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Known forMultidisiplinary artist
Spouses
Suzanne Melouche
​
(m. 1948)​
    Ninon Gauthier
    ​
    (m. 1975)​

    Marcel Barbeau, OC OQ RCA (February 18, 1925 – January 2, 2016) was a Canadian painter, sculptor, graphic and performance artist who used different forms of abstraction and art techniques and technology to express himself.[1]

    Career

    Born in Montreal, he studied with Paul-Émile Borduas at l'École du Meuble in Montreal and later shared a studio with classmate Jean-Paul Riopelle.[2] At the Ecole Barbeau associated with other students of Borduas. Together, they formed a group which became known as the Automatistes. Barbeau, like the others, was specially interested in psychoanalysis and the use of the unconscious and this interest influenced his work from 1946 to 1957. With them, he signed the Refus Global in 1948[2] because he and the other signatories wanted to be free of formal structures - a movement which extended far beyond painting.[2]

    When Riopelle and Borduas left Montreal for Paris and New York respectively and the other signatories formed the Plasticians, he began to investigate his own form of abstraction. He exhibited small ink non-objective paintings in NYC (1952) and also exhibited in Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec City.[2] In 1957 he returned to drawing from live models and experimented with calligraphy, then focused on drawing and collage which continued to be his main interest until 1961.[2] From 1964 to 1968 he researched Op Art and film techniques. He lived in Paris from 1962-1964 where he next exhibited his work. He then moved to NYC where he lived and worked for the next four years (1964-1968), exhibiting his work and in Montreal showing his work at Galerie du Siècle while taking part in group shows in both cities. In 1969, the Winnipeg Art Gallery in collaboration with the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, held a retrospective exhibition of his work.[2]

    As a painter and sculptor, Barbeau addressed most of the fields in the visual arts. As a multidisciplinary artist, he tried to change the plastic language by transgressing disciplinary boundaries.[3] His collages became paintings (1959-1963 and 1986-2005), art prints (1969) and sculptures (1984-1988). His drawings of poems, made of words and letters, sometimes have borrowed their medium and relief from painting (1957).[3] His sculptures resemble drawings thrown in space (1971-1977) or look like small shelters, almost architectural (1985-1992). His performances, real stagings of the act of creation, materialized through paintings, drawings and, under his directive with the complicity of photographers or film directors, through photographs, films and videos, giving some permanence to otherwise ephemeral artistic gestures (1972-1980).[3]

    Curiosity led Barbeau to study the main contemporary artistic trends originating from other disciplinary fields. His interest in those art forms encouraged him to draw on their structures in order to find some convergences, connivances, anchor points or to confirm aesthetic intuitions.[3] He used poetry, music, dance and architecture to renew his art, as for example, his phonic calligraphies (1957-1960) inspired by his friend Claude Gauvreau's poetry or his interdisciplinary events from the seventies and the eighties.[3] He even created works that fall under these disciplines such as his phonic chants from the mid-eighties, which appear in the portrait film by Manon Barbeau entitled "Barbeau, Libre comme l’art"; his dance-action paintings from the seventies; the choreography he created for the opening dance part of his exhibit at Domaine Cataraqui (1999).[3] Despite its diversity and profusion, his work reveals a unity. Economy of means and aesthetic perfection was of great concern for him.[3]

    In 2010, Barbeau said in an interview about his work:

    "When I paint I never look for an emotion. But the forms in the painting will get together and nearly make love; the forms want to live together."[4]

    Public collections

    Barbeau is represented in well over fifty public and corporate collections including the National Gallery of Canada;[5] the Art Gallery of Ontario; and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.[2][6]

    Honours

    Legacy

    Barbeau`s fonds is available at the Archives de l’UQAM - Fonds Marcel Barbeau (University of Quebec Archives), Montreal, QC[12] and the Archives nationale du Québec- Archives de l’audio visuel (Quebec National Archives, audio-visual Archives), Quebec City, QC[13]

    References

    1. 1 2 "Marcel Barbeau s'éteint à l'âge de 90 ans" (in French). Le Devoir. 2 January 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
    2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada
    3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ninon Gauthier, Marcel Barbeau : Then and now, 2013.
    4. ↑ Enright, Robert. "Marcel Barbeau: The Colour of Change". bordercrossingsmag.com. BORDERCROSSINGS magazine, 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
    5. ↑ "Collection". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
    6. ↑ "Marcel Barbeau". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
    7. ↑ "Prizes". Canada Council. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
    8. 1 2 "Marcel Barbeau". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
    9. ↑ "Marcel Barbeau". /postagestampguide.com. Canada Post. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
    10. ↑ "Marcel Barbeau". www.prixduquebec.gouv.qc.ca. November 11, 2013.
    11. ↑ "Marcel Barbeau". /www-ordre--national-gouv-qc-ca.translate.goog/membres. Government of Quebec. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
    12. ↑ "Marcel Barbeau". acdps.uqam.accesstomemory.org. UQAM. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
    13. ↑ "Marcel Barbeau". marcelbarbeau.com/bibliographie. National Archives of Quebec. Retrieved 4 August 2022.

    Bibliography

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