This text is part of the special Feminine Leadership notebook
She is one of the most respected women in the field of museology and art history in Canada. Curator, director of museum institutions, exhibition curator, teacher, researcher, editor, author, Louise Déry has directed the Galerie de l’UQAM since 1997 with a passion for art and transmission.
Louise Déry was in Europe when The duty contact her. She accompanies Montreal photographer Emmanuelle Léonard to an activity at the Canadian Cultural Center in Paris and has to keep appointments in Brussels, before going to Wales, then making a quick trip to Dublin, for a total itinerary of ten days.
Connecting artists, works and establishments across borders, unearthing affinities and complementarities between talents, according to circumstances, “maintaining the road”, this is Louise Déry’s way of envisioning her role.
“I have always wanted to make decisions about women artists, support them and have ambition for them. The best ambition that served mine was to nourish that of artists, young curators and art historians, to encourage a deeper understanding of these disciplines. I know that the contribution can make a difference,” analyzes the new signet ring, since June, of the National Order of Quebec, recipient of several prestigious distinctions and curator of around thirty exhibitions of Canadian artists abroad.
Her leadership, cemented in her multiple mandates as a lecturer, is one of training for younger generations. A spark igniter, in an already traditionally feminine environment. And an art historian on display. From the time of her doctorate, this self-proclaimed “researcher on the lookout” was compiling research on the names of forgotten artists to promote. Because in the history of art, even recent ones, too many artists remain absent from books, believes Louise Déry. “I looked through almost all the newspapers published in Canada in the 1930s and 1940s. I knew as much about the price of butter as about the places where artists were exhibited…”
Make contacts
Louise Déry succinctly summarizes her career, although extremely well-off: birth in Gaspé (which remains her haven of peace), CEGEP in Chicoutimi, master’s degree and doctorate at Laval University. She was appointed director of the Rimouski Regional Museum in the mid-1980s, became curator of contemporary art and gallery director at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, then curator of contemporary art at the Musée des beaux-arts. -arts of Montreal.
Arriving at the Galerie de l’UQAM through a “small contract” as a self-employed worker in 1997, Louise Déry quickly became keen to make the brand – today one of the most renowned in the country – shine outside the Quartier des spectacles and the Quebec region, notably through the publication of catalogs intended for the Canadian and international market. Because, she asserts without cynicism, to establish yourself well in Quebec, you must first gather your laurels and recognition abroad. “We quickly stood out as a university gallery that made contacts. I traveled a lot to show what we do on the ground. »
Among other important milestones in his 26 years at the helm of the institution, note the Canadian representation at the Venice Biennale in 2007, with the immense David Altmejd, a Quebec sculptor based in the United States, whose work was then still unknown in Quebec. “His works were not seen here. He risked becoming an international artist who would have been described as a New York artist born in Montreal. I preferred to talk about a Canadian artist who lives in New York! »
Sophistication and depth
Colleagues and former students highly praise Louise Déry’s qualities as an enthusiastic mentor, an “outstanding manager” who knows how to surround herself, a distinguished thinker and an “experienced commissioner”.
“She does everything with enormous scope, panache and depth. She supports master’s students with the same fervor as the international artists passing through here. She fills every position with sophistication! » notes Anne-Marie Ninacs, professor at UQAM and former student of Louise Déry, who nevertheless regrets not having yet seen the latter occupy the management of a major museum.
Audrey Genois, formerly a museology student then assistant curator at the Galerie de l’UQAM alongside Louise Déry, now general director of MOMENTA Biennale de l’image, for her part remembers the privileged relationship that her ex-guide maintains with the artists , its rigor and its professionalism. “We want to live up to him. She is a great intellectual who can be intimidating, because she has accomplished so much, but she is super generous with her ideas and her contacts. »
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.