Henriette Fauteux-Massé
Henriette Fauteux-Massé
1924 - 2005
AANFM AUTO
Henriette Fauteux-Massé was known for her textured, geometric abstract paintings, which were particularly influential in the 1950s and 1960s.

Fauteux-Massé was born in Coaticook, Quebec in 1924. As a teenager she was interested in dance and performance, but shifted her attention to painting in 1941, after a friend gave her an easel, stool and cast models. Fauteux-Massé was not formally trained in art, but she took many self-directed research trips, and had mentors. From 1946 to 1948 she traveled to New York three times, where she met with contemporary abstract artists and visited museums. She was also influenced by European art history and was especially interested in French painters such as Nicolas Poussin. In 1951, after receiving a scholarship from the Quebec government, she traveled to Paris, in part to study with the Cubist painter André Lhote.

After returning to Montreal, she devoted the next five years to developing her own artistic style. By the late 1950s she had developed an engaging visual language, consisting primarily of colourful, thickly painted rectangular shapes. Most of her work uses a rigid board for support, enabling a confident and strong application of paint. The centrally grouped forms are sculptural and tactile, leaving open space around the edges. Fauteux-Massé made collages as preparatory studies, where she intuitively and playfully arranged and overlapped shapes. Her studio procedures and practices yielded work that looked carefully arranged and structured, contrary to the spontaneous, lyrical approach of the earlier generation of artists associated with the Automatist movement in Quebec. Fauteux-Massé’s work is compelling, balanced between a genuine interest in free experimentation with paint and composition, and an equal demand for structure and cohesion.

Fauteux-Massé was active throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In 1957 she joined and exhibited with the Non-Figurative Artists' Association of Montreal, and in 1959 she exhibited her work at Canada House in New York. In 1966 she became one of the founding members of the Conseil de la peinture, and in 1968 she joined the Société des artistes professionels du Québec. After 1970 she turned to landscape and figurative painting, which did not garner the same attention and recognition as her earlier abstract work. Her work has been exhibited in Canada and abroad, including at the International Painting Competition in Granby, Quebec (where she won first prize), at the Musée d'art moderne in Paris and the Salon des femmes peintres in Paris. Her work is included in the art collections of the National Gallery of Canada and the Musée du Québec.
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Cosmos by Henriette Fauteux-Massé sold for $8,775
Henriette Fauteux-Massé
Cosmos
16 x 16 1/2 in, 40.6 x 41.9 cm
mixed media on paper on board
Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000 CDN
Sold for: $8,775 CDN (premium included)
Spring 2011 - 1st Session on Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Sans titre by Henriette Fauteux-Massé sold for $7,605
Henriette Fauteux-Massé
Sans titre
22 x 14 in, 55.9 x 35.6 cm
circa 1956
oil and gesso on canvas
Estimate: $5,000 - $6,000 CDN
Sold for: $7,605 CDN (premium included)
Spring 2009 - 1st Session on Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Sans titre by Henriette Fauteux-Massé sold for $5,625
Henriette Fauteux-Massé
Sans titre
13 3/4 x 11 in, 34.9 x 27.9 cm
oil on board
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 CDN
Sold for: $5,625 CDN (premium included)
Quebec Abstraction on Thursday, March 26, 2020
Mondes et lumières no. 5 by Henriette Fauteux-Massé sold for $5,265
Henriette Fauteux-Massé
Mondes et lumières no. 5
19 3/4 x 16 1/2 in, 50.2 x 41.9 cm
oil and gesso on board
Estimate: $3,500 - $5,500 CDN
Sold for: $5,265 CDN (premium included)
November 2011 - 5th Session on Saturday, November 26, 2011
Untitled by Henriette Fauteux-Massé sold for $4,688
Henriette Fauteux-Massé
Untitled
16 1/2 x 8 3/8 in, 41.9 x 21.3 cm
oil on canvas on board
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 CDN
Sold for: $4,688 CDN (premium included)
Quebec Abstraction on Thursday, March 25, 2021
Gardiens de la lumière by Henriette Fauteux-Massé sold for $4,680
Henriette Fauteux-Massé
Gardiens de la lumière
16 x 28 in, 40.6 x 71.1 cm
oil on canvas
Estimate: $5,000 - $7,000 CDN
Sold for: $4,680 CDN (premium included)
Spring 2013 - 1st Session on Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Abstract by Henriette Fauteux-Massé sold for $3,540
Henriette Fauteux-Massé
Abstract
25 x 14 1/4 in, 63.5 x 36.2 cm
oil on board
Estimate: $3,000 - $5,000 CDN
Sold for: $3,540 CDN (premium included)
July 2016 - 2nd Session on Thursday, July 28, 2016
Le cercle dans notre univers by Henriette Fauteux-Massé sold for $3,510
Henriette Fauteux-Massé
Le cercle dans notre univers
37 x 19 in, 94 x 48.3 cm
1970
oil and gesso on board
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CDN
Sold for: $3,510 CDN (premium included)
November 2011 - 3rd Session on Saturday, November 26, 2011
Oasis sables et mers No. 23 by Henriette Fauteux-Massé sold for $2,875
Henriette Fauteux-Massé
Oasis sables et mers No. 23
34 1/4 x 20 1/2 in, 87 x 52.1 cm
oil on board
Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000 CDN
Sold for: $2,875 CDN (premium included)
March 2017 - 3rd Session on Thursday, March 30, 2017
Untitled by Henriette Fauteux-Massé sold for $2,813
Henriette Fauteux-Massé
Untitled
10 x 7 in, 25.4 x 17.8 cm
mixed media on paper
Estimate: $1,500 - $2,500 CDN
Sold for: $2,813 CDN (premium included)
Quebec Abstraction on Thursday, March 25, 2021