Guido Molinari

1933-2004

Guido Molinari was born in Montreal, Quebec. His father was a musical director and had many artist friends who visited the family home. This created an exciting background in which Guido Molinari grew up and by the age of twelve, he wanted to become an artist. After receiving his regular schooling in Montreal during the forties, he enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in Montreal taking the evening classes from 1948 to 1950. He then attended the School of Art and Design of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts where he studied under Marian Scott and Gordon Webber from 1950 to 1951. In his early works he was influenced by Monet, later by the works of Kandinsky and Jackson Pollock that he saw during his first visit to New York City in 1955, and the works of the Automatistes in Montreal.

In 1954, he held his first one-man show at Galerie l’Échourie in Montreal. At about this time, he became influenced by the art of Piet Mondrian and of a group of Montreal artists calling themselves Les Plasticiens, exploring simple geometrical shapes with pure colours. In 1955, Molinari showed some of these new works at the “Espace ’55” exhibition held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, along side Jean-Paul Mousseau, Rita Lentendre, Ulysse Comtois, Patterson Ewen and Jean McEwen. That same year, Molinari opened Galerie l’Actuelle in Montreal providing exhibition space for the non-figurative painters, a first in the Canadian contemporary art world. In 1956, he held a one-man show in New York City, and in Montreal he took part in the founding of the Association des Artistes Non-Figuratifs de Montréal and was the first treasurer of the association. He exhibited with the AANFM at the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal the following year.

In 1958, Molinari started exhibiting at the Spring Exhibitions of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and did so annually until 1965. In 1959, around which time his vertical “hard edge” stripe paintings started to appear, he took part in the “Art Abstrait” exhibition held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts which presented the works of six other geometric painters who were Louis Belzile, Jean Goguen, Denis Juneau, Fernand Leduc, Fernand Toupin and Claude Tousignant. Still in 1959, he participated at the third Biennial Exhibition of Canadian Art held at the National Gallery of Canada and did so again in 1961, 1963, 1965 and 1968.

From 1963 to 1965, Molinari took his first formal teaching job at the School of Art and Design of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. During this period, he was elected an associate of the Royal Canadian Academy (1964) and was later made a full member in 1969. During the 1960’s, other than his regular one-man shows, he took part in many major group exhibitions in Canada and abroad including the Concours Artistiques du Québec, Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (1961), Paris Biennial, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris (1961), 85th annual Exhibition of the Royal Canadian Academy, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1964), Guggenheim International Award, Guggenheim Museum, New York City (1964) Artistes de Montréal, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal (1965), The Responsive Eye, Museum of Modern Art, New York City (1965), La Peinture au Canada, Canadian pavilion, Expo ’67 (1967), Canada: Art d’aujourd’hui, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris (1968) and many others.

By the mid-1960’s, Molinari was emerging as a major Canadian artist. In 1967, he took up teaching at Concordia University, position he held until his retirement in 1997. While teaching, Molinari kept working on his art and exhibiting in various one-man and group shows. In 1971 he was made an officer of the Order of Canada and in 1976, a travelling retrospective show was organised at the National Gallery of Canada, which was also shown at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Vancouver Art Gallery.

During his career, Molinari won many prizes including a prize at the  Salon de la Jeune Peinture (1959); 4th Prize for painting at the Concours artistique de la province de Québec (1961); Jessie Dow Prize and Purchase Award, Spring Exhibition, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1962); Purchase Award, First Biennial at Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba (1962); Purchase Award, 4th International Award Exhibition at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NYC (1964); Purchase Award, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University (1964); Purchase Prize, Royal Canadian Academy (1964); Grand Award (co-winner with Jack Bush) Spring Exhibition, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1965); Purchase Award, Concours artistique de la province de Québec (1966); Third Prize, Winnipeg Show, Winnipeg Art Gallery (1966) and in 1967 he was awarded a Fellowship by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

In 1980 he was awarded the Paul-Émile Borduas prize by the Quebec government and in 1995 the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal held a huge retrospective show. He died in Montreal at the age of 70.

Collections:

- National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON)
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, QC)
- Guggenheim Museum (New York City, NY, USA)
- Museum of Modern Art (New York City, NY, USA)
- Kunst Museum (Basel, Switzerland)
- Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal (Montreal, QC)
- Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (Quebec City, QC)
- Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, ON)
- Vancouver Art gallery (Vancouver, BC)
- Edmonton Art Gallery (Edmonton, AB)
- Winnipeg Art Gallery (Winnipeg, MN)
- Walter P. Chrysler Museum (Provincetown, Mass. USA)
- Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University (Boston, Mass. USA)
- Canada Council for the Arts (Ottawa, ON)
- Vancouver Airport (Vancouver, BC)
- University of Toronto (Toronto, ON)
- York University (Toronto, ON)
- Concordia University (Montreal, QC)
- Carleton University (Ottawa, ON)
- Toronto Dominion Bank (Toronto, ON)
- Peter Stuyvesant Foundation Collection (Amsterdam, Holland)
- Chase Manhattan Bank Collection (New York City, NY, USA)
- Carleton Department of External Affairs (Ottawa, ON)
- Power Corporation of Canada (Montreal, QC)

Affiliations:

- Association des Artistes Non-Figuratifs de Montréal (1956)
- Les Plasticiens (2nd group)
- Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy (1964)
- Royal Canadian Academy (1969)
- Société des Artsites Professionels du Québec