Francesco Iacurto

Born in Montreal on September 1, 1908, died also in Quebec in 2001. Iacurto showed remarkable abilities at a very early age since he was thirteen years old and exhibited at the National Monument. He studied drawing there in 1922 under the direction of Edmond Dionet. At the age of fourteen, he was the youngest student of the École des Beaux-Arts in Montreal, which opened in 1923. He met Jean-Paul Lemieux and was promoted by Paul-Émile Borduas and Sylvia Daoust.

In 1927, Iacurto won several prizes and received in 1928 his diploma of professor. In 1929, he obtained a scholarship for studies in Paris.

In 1938, Iacurto settled permanently in Quebec City and began a series of portraits. He traveled to France in 1953 and Italy in 1956, where he painted the Vatican Gardens, and in Greece in 1964 when, at the request of the Canadian ambassador Antonio Barrette, he made some paintings on the city of Athens.

Between 1965 and 1974, Iacurto taught painting and was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy. In 1974 he devoted himself entirely to his art and Professor Maurice Lebel paid him a special tribute in his book Souvenirs, of which Robert Choquette signed the preface.

In 1988, while celebrating his 80th birthday, a retrospective of Intimate Faces drawings is held at Université Laval and a biography of Iacurto is written by Hugues de Jouvancourt.

In 1990 he was awarded the Knight of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy and, in 1991, chaired the Quebec City Carnival Painting Symposium at the very moment when Villa Bagatelle de Sillery presented a retrospective of the work Of Iacurto, which gathers nearly 40 oils, pastels, pencils, sanguines and watercolors realized between 1922 and 1990. The quality of the drawing, the attention to detail and the luminous character of his paintings distinguish the work of Iacurto and are expressed under the Charm that the city of Quebec has exerted on him as well as the region of Charlevoix.

His works are exhibited at the Musée du Québec, the National Gallery of Ottawa, the Canadian Senate, the Parlement de Québec, the Old Séminaire de Québec, the Citadelle, the Hôtel de Ville de Québec and Université Laval.

 Source : Ordre National du Québec,  https://www.ordre-national.gouv.qc.ca/membres/membre.asp?id=245