Charles Gagnon
(1934 - 2003)
Canadian Painter, photographer and film maker
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Charles Gagnon was born in Montreal in 1934. He was introduced to painting and photography at Colègue Stanislas then at Loyola College in Montreal. From 1950, Charles Gagnon met the artists Armand Vaillancourt and Robert Roussil, among others, who showed him the visual art scene of the metropolis.
From 1952, Charles Gagnon moved to the United States to study Art and Design in New York at the Parson School of Design. During his New York years, Gagnon was interested in abstract expressionism and attended the Art Student League. In 1958, a painting by Gagnon titled Bouvine was presented at the Art: USA exhibition for which the American artist Adolf Gotlied was a member of the jury. The same year, the artist presents a work at the opening of the Artek gallery in Montreal, this exhibition brings together works by many artists such as Paul-Emile Borduas, Alfred Pellan, Jean-Paul Riopelle. He repeated the exhibition experience the following year, still at the Artek gallery in Montreal.
He graduated with honors in 1959 and returned to Montreal the following year. He quickly integrated into the visual art scene of the metropolis and discovered affinities in the creations of Jean McEwen and Patterson Ewen. The 1960s were rich in exhibitions and representations for Charles Gagnon, he obtained his first solo exhibition at the Denyse Delrue gallery. He is selected to represent Canadian art with Guido Molinari, Yves Gaucher and Richard Lacroix among others at the second biennale in Paris. He then participated in an exhibition organized in Vancouver by the Canadian Group of Painters.
In 1965, Gagnon set up his workshop on St-Paul Street in Montreal, where Yves Gaucher and Jean McEwen would join him for many years. From this moment, Charles Gagnon will become multidisciplinary, combining visual art, photography and cinema. From 1965 to 1967, Charles Gagnon created the layout of the Chrétien pavilion as well as the production of the film The Eighth Day as part of the Montreal World's Fair.
The decades of the 1960s and 1970s were rich in exhibitions and projects for the artist. In 1978, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts presented a major retrospective on his work.
He becomes knight of the order of Quebec. He was the recipient of the Paul-Emile Borduas Prize in 1995 and then the Governor of Canada Prize in 2002.
The Museum of Contemporary Art devoted a retrospective exhibition to Charles Gagnon in 2001.
Charles Gagnon died in 2003 following a stroke.