Albert Rousseau (1908 - 1982)

Albert Rousseau was a painter, printmaker, illustrator and educator.

He was born in Sainte-Étienne-de-Lauzon, Quebec (a suburb of Quebec City, across the St. Lawrence River), and died there. (1)

His mediums included oil, acrylic, watercolor, gouache*, pastel, India ink*, silkscreen*, etching* and mixed mediums. His subjects were landscapes, houses in landscapes, village scenes, city streets, still life, harbors and portraits. His styles were Fauvism* and Regionalism*. AskART have some good illustrations of his work. (2)

His formal art education includes the École des Beaux Arts*, Quebec City (1924 - 1931), where he studied under Lucien Martial, Henry Ivan Neilson and Jean Bailleul [see all in AskART]. (3)

Rousseau's education also includes extensive travels in Canada and the United States, as well as in Mexico, the West Indies, France, Spain, Portugal and England. (4)

Most sources indicate he taught at various art schools in the mid 1960s, however his primary contribution to art education would most likely be the school he founded in 1971 and operated until his death. (5)

Le Moulin des Arts was an abandoned 150 year old flour mill on the Beaurivate River in St. Etienne. It was converted by Rousseau into a studio, exhibition space and art school for painting, ceramics, pottery and sculpture.

None of our sources list him as a member of any professional artist associations, however his close associates and painting companions included four famous Canadian artists… Marc-Aurèle Fortin, René Richard, Léo Ayotte and Francesco Iacurto [see all in AskART]. (6)

Rousseau's work was exhibited in group shows with the Art Association of Montreal [now the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts] from 1930 to 1967; the Quebec Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec City in 1950 and 1951; and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario in 1960. (7)

The public venues for his solo shows include Le Palais Montcalm de Québec, Quebec City (1947, 1960, 1970 and 1971); Chez Tranquille, Montreal (1950); Place des Arts, Montreal (1969); Musée Laurier, Arthabaska, Quebec (1982); and the Centre d'Art, Lévis, Quebec (1983).

His works are very actively traded on the Canadian auction market, they are in numerous private collections, and they are in several important public collections.

According to the Canadian Heritage Information Network*, there are Albert Rousseau works in the permanent collections of the Canadian Museum of Civilization (Gatineau, Quebec), La Pulperie (Chicoutimi, Quebec), Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art (Quebec), Musée Laurier (Arthabaska, Quebec), Musée Pierre-Boucher (Trois-Rivières, Quebec), Quebec Museum of Fine Arts (Quebec City), Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts (Quebec), and the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa).

Examples of Rousseau's work as an illustrator can be seen in the Guy Robert books Charlevoix: Suite Québécoise (1980) and Vieux Québec (1982). (8)

His awards include the Jessie Dow Prize from the Art Association of Montreal in 1948. (9)

Footnotes:

(1) Source: National Gallery of Canada.

(2) Sources: AskART Images; and museum illustrations and descriptions of mediums in the Canadian Heritage Information Network* data base.

(3.1) Sources: A Dictionary of Canadian Artists (1974), by Colin S. MacDonald; and Printmaking in Québec, 1900 - 1950 (1990), by Denis Martin (see AskART book references).

(3.2) Note: A Dictionary of Canadian Artists also lists Raymond Sudre as a teacher. The Canadian Heritage Information Network* has no record of a Canadian artist by that name; however, according to "Dictionnaire des artistes de langue française en Amérique du Nord" [Dictionary of French Language Artists in North America] by David Karel, the French sculptor Raymond Sudre [see AskART] did visit Quebec in 1929 as the guest of Horatio Walker [see AskART], who had a home in Sainte-Pétronille [Ile d'Orleans] less than 5 miles from Quebec City, and thus it is possible Sudre could have been a visiting instructor or speaker at the school then.

(4) Source: A Dictionary of Canadian Artists (1974), by Colin S. MacDonald (see AskART book references).

(5) Source: Ibid.

(6) Sources: Ibid; and The Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction (2001), by Anthony R. Westbridge and Diana L. Bodnar (see AskART book references).

(7) Exhibition sources: Ibid; and Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - Spring Exhibitions 1880 - 1970 (1988), by Evelyn de R. McMann (see AskART book references).

(8) Source: Magazin'art: Biennial Guide to Canadian Artists in Galleries, 2000 - 2001 (2000), edited by Lise Goulet and Jean-Guy Thibault (see AskART book references).

(9) Source: Ibid.

* For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see AskART.com Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx.

Prepared and contributed to askART by M.D. Silverbrooke.