Claude Tousignant

Claude Tousignant
Born	October 23, 1932 (1932-10-23) Montreal, Quebec
Nationality	Canadian
Field	Painting, Sculpture
Training	School of Art and Design at the MBAM
Movement	Plasticiens, Tachism
Works	"Chromatic accelerator" series
Awards	Officer of the Order of Canada

Claude Tousignant, OC is a Canadian artist born in Montreal, Quebec on December 23, 1932.

Biography

Claude Tousignant is a Canadian abstract painter and sculptor born in Montreal, Quebec. He started his stylistic explorations in France during the early 1950s, but returned home wanting more. Tousignant was then influenced by the Pop Art school, and 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.^{[citation needed]}

Formal training

• 1952-1953 Académie Ranson, Paris
• 1948-1952 School of Art and Design at the MBAM (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal)

Works

• 

  Claude Tousignant, Modulateur de lumière, 2005, installation at Art Mûr

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 1960s, 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.

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

Awards

• Paul-Émile Borduas Prize (1989)
• Officer of the Order of Canada (1976)
• Prize from the Canadian Institute of Rome (1973)
• First prize (painting), Perspective' 67, Toronto (1967)
• First prize (painting), Salon de la Jeune Peinture, Paris (1962)

Museum collections

• The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut (USA)
• Artothèque de Montréal
• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• Canada Arts Council, Ottawa
• Musée d'art Contemporain de Montréal
• Musée du Québec, Quebec City
• Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal
• National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
• Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona (USA)
• Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia
• York University, Toronto

References

• Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal
• Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal
• L'Artothèque
• Galerie Art Mûr