René Richard | The Canadian Encyclopedia

Article

René Richard

René Richard, artist, painter (b at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switz 1 Dec 1895; d at Baie-St-Paul, Qué 31 Mar 1982). His family immigrated to Canada and settled in Cold Lake, Alta. He became a trapper to earn enough money to carry out his great dream of becoming an artist.

René Richard

René Richard, artist, painter (b at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switz 1 Dec 1895; d at Baie-St-Paul, Qué 31 Mar 1982). His family immigrated to Canada and settled in Cold Lake, Alta. He became a trapper to earn enough money to carry out his great dream of becoming an artist. In Jan 1927 he left for Paris where he studied at La Grande Chaumière and became the protégé of painter Clarence GAGNON. He then did his apprenticeship at the Académie Colarossi. He returned to Canada in 1930 and visited Baie-St-Paul several times, at the recommendation of Gagnon, before settling there in 1942. The Musée du Québec held 2 major retrospectives of his work in 1967 and 1978 and, after his death, U Laval and the city of Montréal honoured him with 2 exhibitions.