They were seven and they wanted to change the world in the name of freedom. When women had only just won the right to vote in Quebec in 1940, driven by the struggle of pioneering suffragettes such as Idola Saint-Jean, Marie Gérin-Lajoie, Thérèse Casgrain and Lady Drummond, other illustrious Quebec women found themselves at the crossroads of a post-war socio-cultural revolution that would forever mark the history of the Quebec nation.
They are called Madeleine Arbour, Muriel Guilbault, Marcelle Ferron, Thérèse Leduc, Louise Renaud, Françoise Riopelle and Françoise Sullivan. Most have left this world, Madeleine Arbor and Françoise Sullivan remaining the last two witnesses of an era that propelled Quebec into modernity. With the recent departure of Françoise Riopelle, on July 18, and at the dawn of the 75e anniversary of the publication of the manifesto Global refusal, which we will celebrate in 2023, the time has come to highlight their immense contribution to our history, before those who still bear this priceless legacy during their lifetime disappear.
The testimonies of the last few days in tribute to Françoise Riopelle remind us that the women who signed Global denial are artists in their own right. These pioneers were driven by an uncompromising thirst for freedom and an unwavering thirst for creative freedom. They defied the conventions of the time, refusing to be relegated to their role of wife, mother, housekeeper, with a few exceptions.
These women have made artistic expression a powerful vehicle of protest, of revolution, a plea for social and cultural renewal, the supreme quest for free and assertive creativity, a choreography linking all forms of art. They confronted two realities: the politico-religious conservatism of the time and the ideal of a modern and progressive society where the artist is a full citizen in the creative and public space, where men and women can flourish freely. An invitation to get out of this “Great Darkness” to make way for light, where art lights the way, like a beacon, by becoming a fundamentally social gesture.
Revolutionary equality
The artistic movement launched by Borduas, embodied by those who would later be dubbed the Automatists, represented a revolutionary equality for the time. Seven women, nine men. We would congratulate ourselves today on having reached the “parity zone”. Some even argue that Borduas, in an impetus that could not be more precursory, would have even waited until some of the signatories could have reached the age of legal majority before publishing the manifesto.
They, like their fellow co-signatories in 1948, left their mark on the history of Quebec art with their courage and determination, thus lighting the spark that would pave the way for the Quiet Revolution and the social changes that profoundly redefined and liberated Quebec in the 1960s.
thirst for freedom
This thirst for freedom, Françoise Riopelle will have embodied it, like her colleagues, throughout her life and career. Multidisciplinary artist of great talent, creator, teacher and renowned choreographer, she was both the mother of three children – Yseult and Sylvie Riopelle as well as Patrick Mercure – while being a free and modern woman before her time, emancipating herself both as an artist and as a woman from the 1950s.
A daring cultural entrepreneur, she launched her own dance school on her return from Paris, where she lived from 1946 to 1958, in collaboration with Jeanne Renaud. The latter would co-found with her a few years later the Modern Dance Group of Montreal, whose affiliated school would become the very first entirely devoted to modern dance in Canada.
A teacher at UQAM since the creation of the university in 1969, she is also the creator of the modern dance module and her group Mobiles, integrating dance and performance. She will be a pioneer in the integration of body expression in educational settings.
It is high time to collectively exercise our duty to remember, to reconnect with our history. At a time when the notion of Quebec pride is part of the redefinition of our identity, let us conceive that the soul of a people rests on its ability to know, transmit and celebrate the heritage that it embodies. It is time that the women who have marked our history can see their contribution recognized, on our stages, on our screens, in our libraries, in our classrooms, in our museums and in public space in general.
In the name of freedom, let us remember their courageous struggles, which allow us today to live in a society that they themselves helped to design and improve.
*Signed this letter: Yseult Riopelle, Sylvie Riopelle, Patrick Mercure, Rose-Marie Arbour, Janine Carreau, Ray Ellenwood, Manon Gauthier, Claude Gosselin, Gilles Lapointe, Isabelle Leduc, Lorraine Pintal, Françoise Sullivan and René Viau.