Friday 3 April 2009

Claude Tousignant




"Claude Tousignant is a Canadian abstract painter and sculptor born in Montreal, Quebec. He is a world-renowned leading figure in modern art, especially through his paintings, always striving to get to the essence of art. He started his stylistic explorations in France during the early 50's, but returned home wanting more. Tousignant was then influenced by the Pop Art school, and rapidly adhered to a modern art movement in Montreal called "les Plasticiens". This group of four painters (Jean-Paul Jérôme, Louis Belzile, Rodolphe de Repentigny and Fernand Toupin) wanted abstract painting to go mainstream, and Claude Tousignant dove right in.

Geometric shapes and solid colors make up most of Tousignant's work (see samples in the gallery below), but he always refused to incorporate human or identifiable shapes in his drawings. He pushed the boundaries to simplify the expression itself in the act of painting, incorporating huge circles, square angles, vivid colors in his pieces. During the 1960's, his most popular series came alive with dozens of variations on colorful themes: "Chromatic transformers", "Chromatic accelerators" and "Gongs". But it is during the following decade that he audaciously came full circle on his vision, presenting monotone pieces, the simplest of art forms."(Wikipedia)

An excellent retrospective of his work is available online at the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal


++Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal
++Tousigant virtual exhibition at the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal

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