Jean paul lemieux biography sample

Teacher Resource

Jean Paul Lemieux (1904–1990), painter, illustrator, critic, and teacher, is one of the most significant artists in the history of Canadian modernity.

Born in Quebec City, Lemieux chose to pursue his artistic and teaching career in his native city, from where his art and thought radiated outward for more than half a century. Lemieux captured an inner world of solitude and memories that offered a highly personal, singular vision of Quebec.

 

As a critic Lemieux was one of the first to define “abstraction” as an expression of a society in decline.

Such a perspective deepened the rivalry between the figurative painters of Quebec City and the abstractionists of Montreal. Yet despite this tension, Lemieux was an important advocate for the rights of all French Canadian artists, who often felt isolated from national dialogues.

 

“Lemieux’s pa