100 years of Françoise Sullivan | larger than life

Signatory of the manifesto Global denial, whose 75th birthday is being celebrated this year, the artist Françoise Sullivan is celebrated in style for her 100th birthday, which she will have on Saturday. For this occasion, Mayor Valérie Plante has given her support to the MU organization’s project to create a huge mural dedicated to this artist who is still relevant after 80 years of practice.

Always active, Françoise Sullivan has been a dancer, choreographer, performer, painter, sculptor and photographer. You had to see it, last Saturday, during the opening of Pastels 1996-2004, the exhibition she is presenting at her gallery owner Simon Blais until July 15. Resplendent, smiling as always, and with this unique vivacity that emanates from her. A brilliant artist with an irrepressible desire to create.

The idea for a mural devoted to Françoise Sullivan came from Elizabeth-Ann Doyle, director of MU, who has been creating murals in Montreal since 2007. “Last summer, Valérie Plante came to paint on the mural dedicated to Riopelle by Marc Séguin, she says. I told him that I would like to pay tribute to Mr.^me Sullivan in 2023. She thought it was a good idea. »

Last November, Valérie Plante and Françoise Sullivan sat at the same table during the ball at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The mayor then committed to supporting the creation of a mural.

The work should be created on the south facade of the building on Place Dupuis which houses the Hyatt Place hotel (formerly Hôtel des Gouverneurs). A contract has been signed between MU and the owner of the hotel business. Françoise Sullivan is very happy with the project. “I hope the mural will be beautiful and meaningful,” she says.

Discussions are ongoing between MU and the hotel company as to which design to paint. Models were developed by MU and Françoise Sullivan. Some take up the theme of Dance in the snow, the solo she improvised in 1948 near Otterburn Park. Others echo his practice of abstraction.

“For the choice, we must take into account the educational aspect in the public space”, says Elizabeth-Ann Doyle. And also of the owner, who always has the last word as to the choice of the illustration chosen for his facade.

If all goes well, work on the mural, which will last a month, will begin at the end of the summer. MU needs authorization from the borough of Ville-Marie and public and private financial support for this historic project. “It’s an incredible opportunity that Françoise can design her mural,” says Simon Blais. Plus, it could be the biggest mural in all of Montreal. »

A virtual exhibition and a book at the Galerie de l’UQAM

Aside from the mural, the honors for Françoise Sullivan also come from the Galerie de l’UQAM. Louise Déry, blessed soul of the gallery, has just launched a virtual exhibition and a book, an imaginary line, on the creative period of Françoise Sullivan in the 1970s, particularly in Italy. Performances, conceptual art, photography and video. Activities that illustrate the greatness of the creative thought of Françoise Sullivan, an artist who has always questioned herself.

A new sculpture

Furthermore, Simon Blais celebrates Françoise Sullivan by enlarging a Plexiglas sculpture that she created in 1968. The metal work in two parts connected by two rods will be 4.5 m long and 2 m high. “Sculptor Michel Goulet helped me, from design to welding,” he says. Françoise visited the cutting workshop where the piece was mounted, in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. She was like in a candy store! So happy that she would like to do some sculpture again! »

The sculpture will be installed in the Contemporary Square of the MMFA on the occasion of an exhibition of recent works by Françoise Sullivan which will take place from October 31 to February 18. Because M^me Sullivan paints again and again! She is currently creating works, including large formats (!), which will be exhibited at the Sherbrooke Street Museum, in a police station of Florence-Agathe Dubé-Moreau.

Exhibition at Simon Blais

In the meantime, you have to go see the exhibition Pastels 1996-2004 with works on paper, some unpublished, that Françoise Sullivan created during her rare episodes of pastels. Those of 1996 result from a stay in Greece. They represent in particular the night and the light of houses in the mountains. Magnificent pastels never exhibited. Works that are not abstractions, but landscapes, faces, maps, shorelines, the ripples of a pond, the vibrations of light, the checkerboards of a quilt. Like the incredible artistic quilt of this exceptional Montrealer whose passion moves us, so much does she trace the path to the most beautiful of freedoms, that of expression.

In recognition of the excellence of her work, McGill University will celebrate Françoise Sullivan by presenting her with an honorary doctorate on June 6. The University of Montreal will do the same in August to salute “the exceptional creativity of this versatile artist”.