The phenomenon named Françoise Sullivan is on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA). At 100 years old, including 80 years of career, this “living national treasure” is the subject of an exhibition which includes recent works of undeniable relevance, reflections of our troubled and tormented times.
Both frail and lively, with an elegance and aplomb that command respect, this pioneer of contemporary art came on Monday morning to present the new and older works that make up this event exhibition.
At 100 years old, Françoise Sullivan still paints almost every day. In recent months, she has produced paintings inspired by her dismay in the face of the unregulated climate. The exhibition, titled I let the rhythms flowalso includes large pastels from the 1990s, an imposing aluminum sculpture and other works from the last eight decades.
His recent paintings have been particularly inspired by “the truly incredible summer we had, with the rain, the storm, the sun, more rain and the clouds returning”. “For me, it was impossible not to address what was happening in the world. […] It’s quite serious, what’s happening,” said M.me Sullivan in one of the exhibition rooms dedicated to him.
A child of the century
This total artist, signatory of Overall refusalco-founder of automatism and precursor of modern dance in the 1940s, is a “living national treasure,” said Stéphane Aquin, general director of the MMFA.
Long before Céline Dion and Cirque du Soleil, Françoise Sullivan was a great ambassador of Quebec culture, with exhibitions in major galleries and museums in Canada, the United States and Europe. Superlatives were flying from all sides on Monday to describe the “phenomenal” journey of this woman who witnessed the greatness and misery of the last century.
Born just after the First World War, Françoise Sullivan took her first artistic steps during the Second. She saw the birth and death of the Soviet Empire. She denounced the great darkness and participated in the rise of modern Quebec. “She grasped the concerns of her time and translated them in an exemplary manner,” believes Stéphane Aquin.
The century-old artist expresses himself clearly, using short, no-nonsense sentences. In the exhibition room where the echo amplifies the slightest noise, Françoise Sullivan has difficulty hearing certain questions. When she senses that she is being showered with praise, she thinks for a moment and responds with one word: “Thank you. ” With smile. And the eye lit.
Artist on the move
Florence-Agathe Dubé-Moreau, guest curator of the exhibition, underlines the “vitality” of this century-old artist. “There is a very strong presence of gesture, movement and choreography in his paintings. »
There is a very strong presence of gesture, movement and choreography in his paintings
Sullivan’s work is a “link between dance and painting”, according to the curator. The title of the exhibition I let the rhythms flow refers to the famous choreography Dance in the snowdelivered in 1948 at the foot of Mont Saint-Hilaire, filmed by Jean Paul Riopelle (this other giant, born in 1923 and died in 2002) and photographed by Maurice Perron.
“His painting is similar to a danced or automatist improvisation through which the energies of the unconscious are released and where the color changes into emotion,” writes Mme Dubé-Moreau on the sidelines of the exhibition.
The harbinger of the moons, from 2022, embodies this emotional color. The red lines on a green background evoke an electroencephalogram carrying bad news. We feel the succession ages (2023) suggests fragility, like an x-ray of a broken bone.
The titles of his recent works seem in themselves a form of poetry – inspired by Flaubert, explains Françoise Sullivan. The artist arrived with the list of paintings and the order in which she wanted them lined up. This is how the public will discover Under the vapors of a volcano, a breath floated, Your lightning dazzles me, You slide through the spaces, You brush against the tops of the mountains, shiny and roundGoddess, where are you going? and many other surprises.