Canada's Clarence Gagnon
Title: Oxen Ploughing, 1903
Artist: Clarence Gagnon (Canadian 1881-1942)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Permanent Collection: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Image Courtesy: Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec
Dreaming the Landscape
Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
June 7 to September 10, 2006
Clarence Gagnon, one of Quebec's most beloved painters, is the subject of a retrospective at the Musée
National des Beaux-Arts du Québec.
Title: Summer Breeze at Dinard, 1907
Artist: Clarence Gagnon (Canadian 1881-1942)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Permanent Collection: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
Image Courtesy: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
John R. Porter, Executive Director of the Musée, who initiated the Gagnon
exhibit said about the artist, "in both past and present, Clarence
Gagnon’s artwork stands out for its freshness, refined compositions, luminous colors, evocative power and realistic
likenesses. Whether he is depicting grandiose horizons, painting the main street
of a village of old, portraying farm or forest activities, he shows a deep attachment for tradition and
the heritage of an enchanted part of our land.”
Title: The Yellow House, 1912 or 1919
Artist: Clarence Gagnon (Canadian 1881-1942)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Permanent Collection: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
Image Courtesy: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
Biography
Title: Jardins de Luxembourg, Paris, 1904 or 1905
Artist: Clarence Gagnon (Canadian 1881-1942)
Medium: Oil on Panel
Private Collection
Image Courtesy: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
Clarence A. Gagnon was born in Montreal. He attended the school of Art Association of Montreal, learning from William Bymner. He first visited Baie-Saint-Paul in 1900 before traveling to Paris in 1904 where he studied at the Academie Julian.
Title: Trapper in the Woods, between 1909 and 1913
Artist: Clarence Gagnon (Canadian 1881-1942)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Private Collection
Image Courtesy: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
The artist returned to Canada in 1909. Until 1914 Gagnon divided his time between Montreal, Baie-Saint-Paul and Paris. He lived mainly in Europe, 1922-1936, usually painting in France. Though he did enjoy working in Norway during the summer.
Title: The Two Beaches Paramé , Saint-Malo, 1908
Artist: Clarence Gagnon (Canadian 1881-1942)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Permanent Collection: The Beaverbrook Art Gallery
Image Courtesy: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
Clarence Gagnon illustrated L.F. Rouquette's Le grand silence blanc (1928) and Hemon's Maria Chapdelaine
(1934). He earned an honorary doctorate in 1938. In 1941 he exhibited a model of
a French Canadian village which he hoped to build as an outdoor museum.
Title: La Salute from Ponte della Paglia, Venice, 1905
Artist: Clarence Gagnon (Canadian 1881-1942)
Medium: Oil on Panel
Private Collection
Image Courtesy: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
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Title: Summer Day, Les Andelys, Normandie, 1910
Artist: Clarence Gagnon (Canadian 1881-1942)
Medium: Oil on Panel
Private Collection
Image Courtesy: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
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The artist was both a painter and an etcher. He was known to grind his paint himself. His works reflected his
preferred style using large brushstrokes and brilliant colors.
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Title: Mont Saint-Michel Morning, 1907
Artist: Clarence Gagnon (Canadian 1881-1942)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Permanent Collection: Pulperie de Chicoutimi
Image Courtesy: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
It is his his Charlevoix landscapes for which he is best remembered. Clarence Gagnon contributed to the
rise of artistic modernity in the early 20th century in Canada.
Title: San Giorgio Maggiore from the Giudecca, Venice, 1928
Artist: Clarence Gagnon (Canadian 1881-1942)
Medium: Oil on Panel
Permanent Collection: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
Image Courtesy: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
This is the first major retrospective of Gagnon’s work
in over 60 years. Included is nearly 200 works; oils on canvas, stencils, engravings, sketches,
drawings, illustrations and decorative art pieces.
Title: Canal Boat, 1908
Artist: Clarence Gagnon (Canadian 1881-1942)
Medium: Oil on Panel
Permanent Collection: National Gallery of Canada
Image Courtesy: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
The Gagnon works traverse from the Beaupré coast through the seasons,
European landscapes to views of Québec villages,
beach scenes to Laurentian Romanticism and book illustrations.
Title: Rue du Canal, Moret-sur-Loing, 1908
Artist: Clarence Gagnon (Canadian 1881-1942)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Permanent Collection: National Gallery of Canada
Image Courtesy: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
Clarence Gagnon : Dreaming the Landscape
Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec:
June 7 to September 10, 2006
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa:
October 6, 2006 to January 7, 2007
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario:
June 2 to August 19, 2007
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