Known for his playful drawings and his recognizable slender pencil line, Montreal artist Bruce Roberts died last Monday at the age of 76 following a dazzling cancer. He was a collaborator of To have to for many years, where his impressionistic illustrations accompanying food critics made him famous.
Food critic in the 1990s, the columnist of the To have to Josée Blanchette has only good memories of her collaboration with Mr. Roberts, who always found a way to translate the essence of his texts into images — better than any photo, in his opinion. “He was not a petty artist. Bruce was humility and freedom. He was an artist in the purest sense. He was not in search of fame or anything, “said Mr.me Blanchett.
Born in England, Bruce Roberts grew up in Ontario before landing in Montreal to study engineering at McGill University. To his father’s chagrin, he dropped out of school in 1970 to live off his passion, drawing, which led him to work in the United States, notably for the washington post.
Attracted by the Olympic Games, Bruce Roberts settled in Montreal for good in 1976, at a time of great linguistic tension when Anglophones left the metropolis en masse. “Bruce spoke neither English nor French: he spoke Bruce. He was truly a unique artist, who did not see life like everyone else. He had kept his child’s look, and that’s what gave this playful side to his work, “explains his wife and long-time collaborator, Anna Gedalof, who believes that he has always been more recognized on the French-speaking side than ‘English-speaker.
From the end of the 1970s, he frequented all the big names in Quebec theatre, for which he produced several portraits and illustrations. In addition to his work with The duty and his participation in various exhibitions, Bruce Roberts has also illustrated a dozen children’s books published by Les 400 coups.
His widow would soon like to start discussions with the McCord Museum to showcase his work.