About —
This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Marcelle Ferron (1924-2001), an exceptional woman guided by a vital force and an ideal of unparalleled freedom. Inspiring and humane, she built from her life a sanctuary of liberty that enabled her to fully realize her unique and innovative vision of non-figurative art. As a feminist, sovereigntist activist, and staunch advocate for the social role of the artist, Marcelle Ferron crafted a body of work that was resolutely abstract and deeply personal.
The MAJ is presenting twelve works by Marcelle Ferron from its permanent collection. This selection adheres to the chronological order of the works’ creation, allowing the public to trace the stylistic evolution of the artist over the five decades of her career. Her practice is divided into two segments, reflecting a significant hiatus in her painting between 1966 and 1973, during which she focused on integrating art with architecture by creating monumental stained-glass artworks.
The first part of the exhibition showcases Ferron’s early works, predating the Refus Global manifesto (1948) and her thirteen-year sojourn in France. The second part revisits into periods from her last thirty years, marked by an interest in calligraphic art and the translucency she explored in her glasswork, which she later incorporated into her paintings.
Regarding the history of the MAJ’s collection of Marcelle Ferron’s work, the first painting entered the collection of the Séminaire de Joliette, predecessor of the Museum, in 1969, thanks to a private donation. The second piece was purchased ten years later, a rare acquisition by the Museum. This gesture testifies to the importance of Ferron’s art at the time. Nonetheless, the majority of the works on display today have been donated over the past decade.
The collection assembled here represents the breadth and diversity of Ferron’s pictorial legacy, showcasing her mastery of colour and gesture. The works depict her stylistic transition from darkness to light and illustrate the evolution of spatial construction in painting, exploring myriad possibilities centred on colour, mass, transparency, and line.
Booklet
Biography —
Marcelle Ferron was a signatory of the Refus global in 1948. She established herself as one of the most important modern and abstract artists from Québec. In 1953, she left Québec with her three daughters to settle in Paris. It was during her thirteen-year stay in France that she learned the art of stained glass. In 1961, she won the silver medal at the São Paulo Biennial in Brazil. Upon her return to Québec in 1966, she was actively involved in the democratization of art and produced several large-scale stained glass works, the most famous of which is unquestionably her piece for the Champ-de-Mars metro station in Montréal (1968). Throughout her career, her work was shown in numerous exhibitions around the world.
This exhibition is organized as part of the artist’s 100th birthday celebrations, and is made possible thanks to Les Amis de la place Marcelle-Ferron.
Image in the banner:
In her studio in Clamart (France) around 1959. © Estate of Marcelle Ferron