Léon Bellefleur SOLD Nocturne, 1983 Oil 18'' x 14''

Léon Bellefleur (Jean-Charles Rodrigue Léon Bellefleur)

1910-2007

Léon Bellefleur was born in Montreal, Quebec. By the age of ten he was already painting landscapes and still lifes on cardboard cut from cartons obtained from the corner grocery store. By the age of twelve he had decided to become a painter, but his family and friends advised him that if he became a full-time artist he would be impoverished for most of his life. Bellefleur therefore continued his general education and considered teaching to earn a living, so that he would be able to work at his art over two months of the year. After completing his secondary education he received his teaching certificate from the Jacque Cartier Normal School in Montreal (1929). He then taught in schools of the French Catholic School Commission system for the next twenty-five years (1929-1954) while attending the evening classes at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Montreal (1929-1936).

In 1942 he met Alfred Pellan and began to frequent his studio where he met Albert Dumouchel, Jacques de Tonnancour, Jeanne Rhéaume, Goodridge Roberts and others. Most of them were members of the Contemporary Art Society and Bellefleur also became a member in 1943. In those years he started exhibiting in group shows and finally had his first solo show in 1946.

In 1948 he signed the manifesto of a group of artists drafted by Jacques de Tonnancour and titled “Prisme d’Yeux”. Among this group were artists Louis Archambault, Léon Bellefleur, Jacques de Tonnancour, Albert Dumouchel, Mimi Parent, Alfred Pellan (Founder), Jeanne Rhéaume and Goodridge Roberts to name a few. He was also interested in Paul-Émile Borduas’ group the Automatistes and both of these groups were influenced by the surrealist movement which included Paul Klee, Joan Miro and Salvator Dali. Bellefleur was especially interested in the art of Paul Klee and children’s art. The Prisme d’yeux’s lifespan did not last very long, only a few months, during which Bellefleur exhibited with them at the two exhibitions they held. Afterwards Bellefleur stayed far from any regroupings.

In 1950, he held his second solo show at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The next year, he won the First Prize in Modern Painting (Jessie Dow Prize) at the Spring Exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. That same year he was also chosen to be part of the “Jeunes Peintres Canadiens” Exhibit in Europe and at the “Biennale of Sao Paulo” in Brazil.

In 1954 he retired from teaching and again had a show at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. He then travelled to France where he would live for the next twelve years, punctuated with regular visits to Canada. In the next years, he kept producing and participating to group and solo shows in Europe and Canada. His art quickly reached maturity, his reputation also grew and as a result of all this, he was awarded a Scholarship from the Canada Council for the Arts in 1959.

In 1960 he represented Canada at the Guggenheim Museum in New-York with fellow Canadian artist Paul-Émile Borduas, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Edmund Alleyn and Harold Town. During this time and the next years, he also kept showing his works in galleries in France and Canada.

In 1965 he came back to Canada and settled in Deschambault, QC. where he bought a house. From then on, he painted intensively in his studio and exhibited his work in solo shows in Paris, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Quebec City. In 1968 he received a second Scholarship from the Canada Council for the Arts which incite him and his family to go back to France and spend the springtime in Paris and in the Provence region. That same year, consecration of his work and career came when the National Gallery of Canada organised a retrospective show on Bellefleur’s work that was also showed at the London Art Museum in London, Ontario, and at the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal.

In 1970, Bellefleur moved closer to Montreal while he kept practising his favourite “sport”; travelling. Exhibitions kept on coming, not has numerous as before but better organized. That led him all the way to exhibit in London, England in 1973 and Denmark in 1975.

In 1977, he received the first ever Paul-Émile Borduas Prize. This distinction awarded by the Government only strengthened his reputation as one of our prominent Canadian Artist, this adding to the fact that his works were already part of many great Canadian public or private collections across the country.

In 1987, he was awarded an Honorific Doctorate from the Concordia University in Montreal and in 1988, well-known French-Canadian art-writer Guy Robert publishes both in French and English a 240 page book on the life and art of Léon Bellefleur.

Even well into his late eighties, Bellefleur kept painting and producing wonderful works of art. He died in Montreal at the age of 97.

Collections:

- National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON)
- Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, ON)
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, QC)
- Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal (Montreal, QC)
- Musée d’Art de Joliette (Joliette, QC)
- Hamilton Art Gallery (Hamilton, ON)
- Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (Quebec, QC)
- Tel-Aviv Museum (Tel-Aviv, Israel)
-Musée du bas St-Laurent (Rivière-du-Loup, QC)
- Loto-Quebec Collection (Montreal, QC)
- Carleton University Art Gallery (Ottawa, ON)
- Firestone Art Collection (Ottawa, ON)
- Power Corporation of Canada (Montreal, QC)

Affiliations:

- Contemporary Art Society (1943)
- Prisme d’Yeux (1948)
- Royal Candian Academy
- Canadian Group of Painters
- Canadian Society of Graphic Art
- Quebec Modern Group