Antoine Plamondon, Still Life with Apples and Grapes, 1869, oil on canvas. Gift of Mr. Maurice Corbeil. Collection of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec
Exhibitions
Antoine Plamondon (1804 - 1895): Milestones of an Artistic Journey
Historical Feature, R. Fraser Elliott and Samuel J. Zacks Galleries
22 April - 2 July 2007
Antoine Plamondon is among the great figures of 19th-century Canadian painting. To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the artist's birth, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec has mounted a touring exhibition featuring some 40 of his works, over half of which are from its own rich permanent collection and the rest from private and public collections in Canada. The exhibition features several unusual, rarely exhibited and recently restored pieces.
Born in L'Ancienne-Lorette in 1804, Plamondon studied in Paris (1826-1830), and returned to Québec City to develop a highly successful career as a painter of portraits of the bourgeoisie, and of religious, allegorical, mythical and genre subjects. Plamondon dominated Québec painting at the height of his career. A fierce polemicist, he utilized the press to put forward strong views about painting and about his rivals. In 1850, he retired to a farm at Neuville where he continued to paint religious and secular works.
This exhibition, with its accompanying catalogue by John R. Porter and Mario Béland, is the first monographic study of his work and a landmark in the study of historical Canadian painting. The exhibition evokes a culturally rich epoch in the history of Québec. As this year's Frances K. Smith Annual Lecturer in Canadian Art, Mario Béland offers an in-gallery presentation of the exhibition on Sunday 29 April at 2 pm. All are welcome to attend.
The exhibition has been organized and circulated by the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, a public corporation funded by the Québec Ministry of Culture and Cummunication. The exhibition is funded under the Department of Canadian Heritage's Museums Assistance Program.
The Art Centre's presentation is supported by the Janet Braide Memorial Fund and the Frances K. Smith Annual Lecture in Canadian Art Fund.