Yves Gaucher: Difference between revisions

Yves Gaucher (1934-2000)^[1] was a Canadian abstract painter and printmaker.^[2] He was nominated for the Order of Canada in 1980, and is considered the leader amongst Quebec's printmakers in the 1950s and 60s.^[2] His work has been featured in multiple important galleries, including the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.^[1]

Yves Gaucher was born on January 3rd, 1934 in Montreal^[3] to Tencrede Gaucher, a pharmacist and optician, and Laura Elie Gaucher, as the sixth of eight children.^[4]

He attended the College Brebeuf in Montreal in 1948, but was expelled for drawing immoral pictures. These pictures were in fact copied from his textbooks on Ancient Greek and Egyptian art. He then went on to become an employee of the Canadian Pacific Steamship Line, working in its Montreal and Halifax offices.^[4]

After meeting Arthur Lismer, a Group of Seven artist, Gaucher decided to study art seriously. He enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in Montreal in 1954, but was expelled in 1956 for taking only the courses he was interested in. After his expulsion, he continued to study art on his own, while earning an income through various jobs.^[4] Gaucher then returned to the École to study printmaking with Albert Dumouchel, where he created a controversial technique of heavy embossing, which he described as challenging the traditional "taboos".^[2]

Gaucher's art career began when he set up an exhibition at the Galerie d'Echange in Montreal in 1957. He enjoyed success afterwards, and became the founding president of Associations des Peintures-Gravures de Montreal in 1960.^[2]

In 1962, Gaucher received a grant from the Canada Council to travel to Europe. There, in Paris, he encountered the music of Anton Webern, which became a major influence on him. He began to use more colour contrasts and irregular patterns in his artwork, which would better represent the atonal music of Webern, instead of rational geometric relationships.^[2]

By 1964, however, Gaucher had distanced himself from printmaking and instead began to study the work of the New York Modernists, including Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko. He was particularly intrested by their use of geometric shapes, flat colour planes and large canvases. This lead him to create similar works which emulated the structure of modernist art. He also created art using mathematical relationships, including symmetry, patterning, and spacial relationships, which eventually lead to monochromatic works.^[2]

From 1967-69, Gaucher created a series of "Grey on Grey" paintings. They were intended to be seen individually in terms of linear movement, and together as a colour-based environment.^[5]

In 1970, Gaucher began to create works consisting entirely of broad horizontal stripes of clashing colours, which would later come to be called colour band painting. He would also explore the diagonal line and arranging planes of contrasting colours in order to disrupt space, expressing his interest in theories of chaos.^[2]

In 1980, Gaucher was nominated for the Order of Canada. In this period he taught at Concordia University in Montreal.^[2] However, a shoulder injury and other health problems would force him to paint on smaller surfaces, and he retured to creating collages, one of his earlier practices.^[6]

He died in Montreal on September 8th, 2000.^[5]