
{"id":37223522683,"date":"2019-01-21T15:37:28","date_gmt":"2019-01-21T20:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mcmichael1.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=37223522683"},"modified":"2025-11-17T11:55:01","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T16:55:01","slug":"major-francoise-sullivan-retrospective-exhibition-to-open-at-the-mcmichael-february-16-2019","status":"publish","type":"press-release","link":"https:\/\/mcmichael.com\/fr\/communique-de-presse\/major-francoise-sullivan-retrospective-exhibition-to-open-at-the-mcmichael-february-16-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan retrospective exhibition to open at the McMichael February 16, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-parallax-none hundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling fusion-equal-height-columns lazyload\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-padding-top:0px;--awb-padding-right:0px;--awb-padding-bottom:0px;--awb-padding-left:0px;--awb-margin-top:0px;--awb-margin-bottom:0px;--awb-background-size:cover;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" data-bg=\"https:\/\/mcmichael.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rouge_WEB_CL-1024x1024.jpg\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last fusion-column-no-min-height mc-banner-column\" style=\"--awb-padding-top:150px;--awb-padding-bottom:150px;--awb-bg-size:cover;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-sep-none fusion-title-center fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-one\" style=\"--awb-margin-top-small:10px;--awb-margin-right-small:0px;--awb-margin-bottom-small:20px;--awb-margin-left-small:0px;--awb-sep-color:#ffffff;\"><h1 class=\"fusion-title-heading title-heading-center\" style=\"margin:0;\"><h1><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Major Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan retrospective exhibition to open at the McMichael February 16, 2019<\/span><\/h1><\/h1><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-2 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling fusion-equal-height-columns\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last mc-columns mc-upcoming-column\" style=\"--awb-padding-top:5%;--awb-padding-right:5%;--awb-padding-bottom:5%;--awb-padding-left:5%;--awb-bg-size:cover;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Organized and circulated by the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019art contemporain de Montr\u00e9al, a provincial Crown corporation subsidized by the Minist\u00e8re de la Culture et des Communications du Qu\u00e9bec.\u00a0The national tour of the exhibition has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>January 18, 2019, Kleinburg, ON\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is pleased to announce <em>Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan<\/em>, an exhibition celebrating the works of multimedia Quebec avant-garde artist Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan (b. 1923, Montreal). This retrospective exhibition highlights the key role of artist Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan in the history of modern and contemporary art in Quebec. The exhibition, which includes more than 50 works of art, will feature a diverse mix of painting, sculpture, video, costume and archival materials. It offers a chance for visitors to discover or rediscover an artist whose major impact on Quebec and Canadian culture deserves to be more fully recognized.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A multidisciplinary artist, Sullivan is known as a painter, choreographer and sculptor, however, she is best-known for her creation of the 1948 performance piece <em>Danse dans la neige<\/em>. <em>Danse dans la neige<\/em> is considered a pivotal moment in the history of modern dance due to its use of improvisation. During the 1960s, Sullivan turned towards sculpture, working with both acrylic and steel to create large-scale sculptures of fluid, shifting shapes. For Expo 67, Sullivan created <em>Callooh Callay<\/em>, a sculpture that challenges the traditional perceptions of steel through its suggestions of fluidity and playfulness. Sullivan returned to painting in the 1980s, and she continues to work in that medium to this day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00ab\u00a0With <em>Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan<\/em>, we&rsquo;re hoping to introduce a leading Canadian artist to a larger audience,\u00a0\u00bb said McMichael Chief Curator Sarah Milroy. \u00ab\u00a0A signatory of the incendiary Refus global manifesto and a member of the famed Automatiste movement, Sullivan was on the vanguard of Quebec art in the 1940s and 1950s, helping to ignite the spark that led to Quebec&rsquo;s Quiet Revolution. Her fierce creativity and will to experiment mark her as an important figure in Canadian history and art history.\u00a0\u00bb<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">To complement the works of Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan, the McMichael will also present two related exhibitions showcasing the work of fellow Quebec artists Rita Letendre (b. 1928, Drummondville) and Marie-Claire Blais (b. 1974, L\u00e9vis), both of whom have expanded the field of abstract painting in Canada in their own distinctive ways. Letendre took the lessons of the Automatistes and interpreted them in light of her experience as a woman of Abenaki\/settler heritage. Blais, in her first solo museum exhibition, is extending the language of abstraction into the contemporary movement, painting on canvas and then cutting, shredding and unraveling the painting surface to produce subtle works that hover between sculpture and painting. \u00ab\u00a0This exhibition is a timely opportunity for us to bring together a trio of important female artists from Quebec,\u00a0\u00bb said Milroy. \u00ab\u00a0Part of our mission is to expose the public to lesser-known areas of Canadian art, and this exhibition illuminates the important contributions of these artists to the artistic, cultural and political dialogues of twentieth-century Canada.\u00a0\u00bb<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan<\/em> opens February 16, 2019 and will remain on view until May 12, 2019. <em>Rita Letendre: Earth, Wind &amp; Fire<\/em> will be on view during the same period. <em>Marie-Claire Blais: Veils<\/em> opens March 8, 2019 and will be on view through June 9, 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Media wishing to speak with artist Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan, curator Mark Lanct\u00f4t or Chief Curator Sarah Milroy are invited to attend the media preview on Friday,\u00a0<\/strong><strong>February 15, 2019 from 10 am to 1 pm. To obtain an appointment or high-resolution images of the artworks in this exhibition, please contact Sam\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Cheung at <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"mailto:scheung@mcmichael.com\">scheung@mcmichael.com<\/a> or 905.893.1121 ext. 2210.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Cette information est \u00e9galement disponible en fran\u00e7ais<\/em><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>About the McMichael Canadian Art Collection<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is an agency of the Government of Ontario and acknowledges the support of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, and the McMichael Canadian Art Foundation. It is the foremost venue in the country showcasing the Group of Seven and their contemporaries. In addition to touring exhibitions, its permanent collection consists of over 6,500 artworks by Canadian artists, including paintings by the Group of Seven and their contemporaries, as well as First Nations, M\u00e9tis and Inuit artists. The gallery is located on 100 acres of northern landscape and hiking trails at 10365 Islington Avenue, Kleinburg, north of Major Mackenzie Drive in the City of Vaughan. For more information: <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/mcmichael.com\">mcmichael.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">*THE ART OF CANADA is an official mark of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>About Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Born in Montreal in 1923, Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan studied at \u00c9cole des beaux-arts in the 1940s, during which time she and a circle of artist friends headed by Paul-\u00c9mile Borduas established the group known as \u00ab\u00a0Les Automatistes.\u00a0\u00bb A co-signatory of the group&rsquo;s Refus global manifesto, Sullivan contributed a seminal essay on contemporary dance, \u00ab\u00a0<em>La Danse et l&rsquo;espoir<\/em>\u00a0\u00bb (Dance and Hope), to the publication in which the manifesto appeared. An accomplished painter, dancer and choreographer, she spent the years from 1945 to 1947 in New York studying modern dance under Franziska Boas, among others. Shortly after returning to Montreal, Sullivan created <em>Danse dans la neige<\/em> (Dance in the Snow) (1948), which marked a defining moment in her artistic career. In the 1960s, she turned her attention to sculpture, working notably with steel and Plexiglas. She made her first trips to Greece and Italy in the 1970s; later, as a member of the V\u00e9hicule Art artist-run centre, Sullivan experimented with performative and \u00ab\u00a0immaterial\u00a0\u00bb approaches associated with conceptual art. The 1980s marked a return to painting, with tondos in matierist style and later figurative works inspired by ancient mythology. During the second half of the 1990s, she embarked on a lengthy<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">exploration of abstract painting, a passion she continues to pursue today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan taught at Concordia University&rsquo;s Faculty of Fine Arts from 1977 to 2009. Her works have been shown in Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Japan. She has received the Prix Paul-\u00c9mile Borduas and the Order of Canada and was named a knight of the Order of Qu\u00e9bec. Retrospectives of her work have been mounted by the Montr\u00e9al Museum of Fine Arts and the Mus\u00e9e national des beaux-arts du Qu\u00e9bec. In 2005, Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan won the Governor General&rsquo;s Award in the Visual and Media Arts, and in 2008, the Gershon Iskowitz Prize.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>About the Exhibition Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This exhibition, organized and circulated by the Mus\u00e9e d&rsquo;art contemporain de Montr\u00e9al, is curated by Mark Lanct\u00f4t. The Mus\u00e9e d&rsquo;art contemporain de Montr\u00e9al is a provincial Crown corporation subsidized by the Minist\u00e8re de la Culture et des Communications du Qu\u00e9bec. The national tour of the exhibition <em>Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan<\/em> has been made\u00a0possible in part by the Government of Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Cette exposition, organis\u00e9e et mise en circulation par le Mus\u00e9e d&rsquo;art contemporain de Montr\u00e9al, est sous le commissariat de Mark Lanct\u00f4t. Le Mus\u00e9e d&rsquo;art contemporain de Montr\u00e9al est une soci\u00e9t\u00e9 d&rsquo;\u00c9tat subventionn\u00e9e par le minist\u00e8re de la Culture et des Communications du Qu\u00e9bec. La tourn\u00e9e nationale de l&rsquo;exposition <em>Fran\u00e7oise Sullivan<\/em> a \u00e9t\u00e9 rendue possible en partie gr\u00e2ce au gouvernent du Canada.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">-30-<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload alignnone size-large wp-image-37223522686\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271024%27%20height%3D%27261%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201024%20261%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271024%27%20height%3D%27261%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/mcmichael.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Exhibition-logo-block_17Jan19-1024x261.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"261\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Media Contacts:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Sam Cheung<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">Media Relations and Communications Coordinator<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">McMichael Canadian Art Collection<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">905.893.1121 ext. 2210<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"mailto:scheung@mcmichael.com\">scheung@mcmichael.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Grace Johnstone<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">Director, Communications, Marketing and Sales<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">McMichael Canadian Art Collection<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\">905.893.1121 ext. 2265<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"mailto:gjohnstone@mcmichael.com\">gjohnstone@mcmichael.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":37223522372,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_ecp_custom_15":"","_ecp_custom_16":"","_ecp_custom_17":""},"class_list":["post-37223522683","press-release","type-press-release","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcmichael.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release\/37223522683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcmichael.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcmichael.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-release"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcmichael.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37223522372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcmichael.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37223522683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}