![]() |
Rita Letendre
Rita Letendre a
Canadian
painter, muralist and printmaker closely associated with the
Automatistes, was
born November 1928 in Drummondville, QC.
She is an officer of the Order of Canada and a recipient of the
Governor
General’s Award. At age 19, she enrolled
in the École des Beaux-Arts where she worked in a very academic
atmosphere for
a year and a half. In 1950 she went to
view an art show "L’Exposition des Rebelles" despite being largely
condemned by her professors – this was her introduction to the circle
of
Borduas and the Automatistes and soon thereafter, she left l'Ecole des
Beaux-Art and began showing alongside other first and second generation
Automatistes. Eventually her work was noticed, most notably by
artist/art
critic Rodolphe de Repentigny Impressed
by the structure and form in the works of the Plasticiens, Rita began
changing
her style to a more geometric one, employing more structured colour
fields,
zones of energy, thus temporarily abandoning the purely instinctual
approach of
Automatisme. In 1964, her works became
considerably simplified, more focused on geometric shapes and movement.
She
travelled to Paris where she met Kosso Eloul; the couple soon moved to
California. There Letendre painted her
first large mural and explored printmaking, a technique conducive to
hard-edge
shapes. The couple left Los Angeles in
1969, alternating their time between New York and Toronto which would
continue
until 1975. Letendre began using airbrush 1971 and the popularity of
her work
continued with many public and private commissions for large scale
works. By the 80s she was also working in pastel and eventually
abandoned the airbrush altogether reverting a more abract expressionist
style
in the 90. The works of Rita Letendre can be found in many public
and private collections including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the
National
Gallery of Canada, Musée d'Art Contemporain Montreal, the Montreal
Museum of
Fine Arts, Musée du Quebec and the Vancouver Art Gallery.
|
![]() Music of One Star
Oil on Canvas 16" x 20" 2007 $8,750 |
![]() Beginning of Days
Oil on Canvas 60" x 48" 2007 $35,000 |
Sortie Enflamée
Oil on Canvas 18" x 16" 1998 $10,500 |
|
![]() Untitled
Pastel on paper 9" x 12" 1984 $3,600 |
|