Arthur Villeneuve
(1910 - 1990)
Canadian painter, Order of Canada
Arthur Villeneuve was born in 1910 in Chicoutimi. He will be a barber before becoming a painter. He will affirm to have had the mystical call for painting in 1957. He first begins a large oil fresco on the interior walls of his house which he will continue on the exterior walls. He will complete his masterful work in 1959 and consequently decide to open his house to the public.
His naive art in modern Quebec of the 1960s clashes with some, but others see his art as a great heritage potential. Moreover, the artist tells the regional past in his works. The enthusiasm generated by Arthur Villeneuve will lead the National Film Board of Canada to make a short film on his life. He will also receive good words from François-Marc Gagnon and art critic Léo Rossandler. He exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the National Museum of Fine Arts in Quebec and the Vancouver Art Gallery in the 1970s. He received the Order of Canada in 1973.
He will be represented by the Waddington Gallery in Montreal. In 1976 one of the artist's serigraphs was published in the famous novel Salut Galarneau by author Jacques Godbout.
Four years after his death in 1990, the house is listed as a heritage site and will be moved to the Pulperie de Chicoutimi to become a museum and exhibition space.