Armand Vaillancourt
Armand Vaillancourt
1929 -
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Armand Vaillancourt established himself as a fixture of the Quebec arts scene with his political and gestural large-scale public sculptures, paintings and performance art pieces which defy simple classification. Constantly exploring different mediums and modes of expression, Vaillancourt communicates various ideas through his work, denouncing racism, violence and injustice while embodying Quebec’s culture of populist resistance.

Born in Black Lake, Quebec in 1929, the 16th of 17 children, Vaillancourt grew up on a 300 acre farm with no electricity or indoor plumbing. He moved to Montreal in 1951 to train as an artist at the École des beaux-arts. During this time he created his first major public work The Tree of Durocher Street, for which he carved and shaped the tree outdoors before crowds of onlookers. Influenced by the Automatists and their exploration of spontaneous form, Vaillaincourt became celebrated at home and abroad for his abstract sculptures balancing artistic intention and the nature of materials. His formalist bois brûlé carvings used fire and oil to paint and model the surface of the sculpture according to the various densities of the wood. He also invented a method of casting bronze sculptures using sand-packed plastic and Styrofoam molds shaped by flame, resulting in abstract improvisations that mimicked the textures and shapes of volcanic rock formations.

Believing the artist must speak for the social conscience, Vaillancourt has staged performances and used his art and the media to vocalize his commitment to social change. In 1967 he was invited to the International Sculpture Symposium in Toronto to build a 340-ton cast iron piece. When he defiantly titled the work Je me souviens, the organizers abandoned the project, causing a stir in the national media. His best known work is the monumental Vaillancourt Fountain, also known as Québec libre! which was constructed between 1969 and 1971 and sits at the Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco. The night before its inauguration Vaillancourt inscribed “Québec libre!” in bright red ink, voicing his support for the Quebec sovereignty movement and the freedom of all people. The next day, seeing that the inscription had been removed, Vaillancourt jumped back on the sculpture in the middle of the dedication ceremony to reinscribe the words.

Vaillancourt received the Paul-Émile Borduas award in 1993 and in 2004 was made a Chevalier de L'Ordre national du Québec. During the 1994 Quebec election he ran for the NDP in the Westmount-Saint-Louis riding, becoming the first artist to do so in the province. In 2008 he was given a retrospective at the Musée des beaux-arts de Mont-Saint-Hilaire. His work is represented in the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
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Les résultats record de la Maison Heffel
Sans titre by Armand Vaillancourt vendu pour $49,250
Armand Vaillancourt
Sans titre
36 x 48 in, 91.4 x 121.9 cm
acrylique sur toile
Estimation : 12 000 $ - 16 000 $ CDN
Vendu pour : 49 250 $ CDN (Prime d’achat incluse)
Armand Vaillancourt | Selected Works from the Collection of the Artist, jeudi, 31 mars 2022
Sans titre by Armand Vaillancourt vendu pour $37,250
Armand Vaillancourt
Sans titre
30 x 30 in, 76.2 x 76.2 cm
acrylique sur toile
Estimation : 10 000 $ - 15 000 $ CDN
Vendu pour : 37 250 $ CDN (Prime d’achat incluse)
Armand Vaillancourt | Selected Works from the Collection of the Artist, jeudi, 31 mars 2022
Bois Totem by Armand Vaillancourt vendu pour $22,500
Armand Vaillancourt
Bois Totem
48 1/4 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in, 122.6 x 14 x 14 cm
circa 1958
sculpture en bois
Estimation : 15 000 $ - 20 000 $ CDN
Vendu pour : 22 500 $ CDN (Prime d’achat incluse)
Post-War & Contemporary Works from the Family of Paul-Vanier Beaulieu, samedi, 26 novembre 2022
Suzanne by Armand Vaillancourt vendu pour $18,750
Armand Vaillancourt
Suzanne
59 x 4 1/2 x 3 1/2 in, 149.9 x 11.4 x 8.9 cm
circa 1962
sculpture en bois brûlé
Estimation : 15 000 $ - 20 000 $ CDN
Vendu pour : 18 750 $ CDN (Prime d’achat incluse)
Contemporary Prints & Sculptures, jeudi, 31 mars 2022
Sans titre by Armand Vaillancourt vendu pour $16,250
Armand Vaillancourt
Sans titre
8 5/8 x 49 x 11 in, 21.9 x 124.5 x 27.9 cm
circa 1959
sculpture en métal
Estimation : 8 000 $ - 12 000 $ CDN
Vendu pour : 16 250 $ CDN (Prime d’achat incluse)
Post-War & Contemporary Works from the Family of Paul-Vanier Beaulieu, samedi, 26 novembre 2022
La nuit by Armand Vaillancourt vendu pour $15,000
Armand Vaillancourt
La nuit
17 x 17 x 3 1/4 in, 43.2 x 43.2 x 8.3 cm
sculpture en bronze avec patine verte
Estimation : 5 000 $ - 7 000 $ CDN
Vendu pour : 15 000 $ CDN (Prime d’achat incluse)
Quebec Abstraction, jeudi, 24 septembre 2020
Sans titre by Armand Vaillancourt vendu pour $12,870
Armand Vaillancourt
Sans titre
14 3/4 x 21 x 10 1/2 in, 37.5 x 53.3 x 26.7 cm
sculpture en bronze sur une base en bois
Estimation : 3 000 $ - 5 000 $ CDN
Vendu pour : 12 870 $ CDN (Prime d’achat incluse)
March 2012 - 4th Session, jeudi, 29 mars 2012
Untitled by Armand Vaillancourt vendu pour $12,870
Armand Vaillancourt
Untitled
88 x 11 1/2 x 2 in, 223.5 x 29.2 x 5.1 cm
sculpture en bois brûlé
Estimation : 5 000 $ - 7 000 $ CDN
Vendu pour : 12 870 $ CDN (Prime d’achat incluse)
September 2011 - 2nd Session, jeudi, 29 septembre 2011
Le Sacre du printemps by Armand Vaillancourt vendu pour $10,000
Armand Vaillancourt
Le Sacre du printemps
36 x 24 in, 91.4 x 61 cm
acrylique sur toile
Estimation : 10 000 $ - 15 000 $ CDN
Vendu pour : 10 000 $ CDN (Prime d’achat incluse)
Art Now, jeudi, 29 septembre 2022
Sans titre by Armand Vaillancourt vendu pour $9,945
Armand Vaillancourt
Sans titre
12 1/4 x 17 x 8 3/4 in, 31.1 x 43.2 x 22.2 cm
sculpture en bronze sur une base en bois
Estimation : 3 000 $ - 5 000 $ CDN
Vendu pour : 9 945 $ CDN (Prime d’achat incluse)
March 2013 - 4th Session, jeudi, 28 mars 2013