Armand J. R. Vaillancourt (born September 3, 1929) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

performance artist Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

from

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. He is known for his public art fountain entitled

Vaillancourt Fountain ''Vaillancourt Fountain'', sometimes called ''Quebec libre!'', is a large fountain in Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco, designed by the Québécois artist Armand Vaillancourt in 1971. It is about high and is constructed out of precast concr ...

located in San Francisco. He lives in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Biography

Armand J. R. Vaillancourt was born on September 3, 1929 in Black Lake, Quebec, Canada. He received his art training at the

École des beaux-arts de Montréal École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région ...

. In 1971, a publicly commissioned fountain entitled Vaillancourt Fountain, often called "Québec libre!", was installed in the

Embarcadero Plaza Embarcadero Plaza, previously known as Justin Herman Plaza from its opening in 1972 until 2017, is a plaza near the intersection of Market and Embarcadero in San Francisco's Financial District, in the U.S. state of California. It is owned by Bost ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, United States. One of his best known sculptures, ''Québec libre!'' is representative of the relationship between Vaillancourt's art and his political convictions. It is a large concrete fountain, 200 feet long, 140 feet wide and 36 feet high sitting near the city's financial district at the

Embarcadero Center Embarcadero Center is a commercial complex of five office towers, two hotels, a shopping center with more than 125 stores, bars, and restaurants, and a fitness center on three levels located in San Francisco, California. There is an outdoor ice sk ...

. The night before its inauguration, Vaillancourt inscribed ''Québec libre!'' in red letters, to note his support for the

Quebec sovereignty movement The Quebec sovereignty movement (french: Mouvement souverainiste du Québec) is a political movement whose objective is to achieve the sovereignty of Quebec, a province of Canada since 1867, including in all matters related to any provision of ...

and more largely, his support for the freedom of all people. The following day, seeing that the city's employees erased the inscription, he jumped on the sculpture during its dedication to reinscribe the phrase. On November 11, 1987, the fountain became the object of an incident involving U2's singer

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...

. During a free concert, Bono climbed the sculpture to write, "Rock N Roll Stops Traffic", referring to the power of rock. Vaillancourt flew from Quebec to California after the incident, and spoke in favor of Bono's actions at U2's Oakland performance several days later. Vaillancourt said, "Good for him. I want to shake his hand. People get excited about such a little thing." Armand Vaillancourt C2 Montreal 2352012

As of 2008, Vaillancourt lives in a 19th-century stone house in Montreal, across the street from

Jeanne-Mance Park Jeanne Mance Park (french: Parc Jeanne-Mance), formerly known as Fletcher's Field (french: Champ de Fletcher), is an urban park in the Plateau Mont-Royal borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Named after the co-founder of Montreal, Jeanne Mance ...

. His archives, consisting of 500 cardboard boxes on metal shelves, plus nearly 100 notebooks in which he records all of his activities, are stored on the second floor of his house. His art has a political motivation, and, in addition to Quebec independence, he is concerned about environmental issues such as pollution caused by exploitation of

oil sands Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and wate ...

, the destruction of honey bee populations, and human rights issues such as the rights of indigenous peoples. He won the

Prix Paul-Émile-Borduas The Prix Paul-Émile-Borduas is an award by the Government of Quebec that is part of the Prix du Québec, given to individuals who are artists or craftsman in the fields of visual arts, of the trades of art, architecture and the design. It is na ...

, awarded by the

Government of Quebec A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

in 1993. In 2004, he was awarded the title of Chevalier of the

Ordre national du Québec The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as ''l'Ordre national du Québec'', and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is an order of merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Gov ...

. In 2008, a retrospective of his work was exhibited at the Musée des beaux-arts de Mont-Saint-Hilaire in

Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec Mont-Saint-Hilaire () is an off-island suburb of Montreal in southeastern Quebec, Canada, on the Richelieu River in the Regional County Municipality of La Vallée-du-Richelieu. The population as of the Canada 2011 Census was 18,200. The cit ...

. File:Cénotaphe de Chicoutimi.jpg, Armand Vaillancourt's Cenotaph in

Chicoutimi, Quebec Chicoutimi () is the most populous borough (arrondissement) of the city of Saguenay in Quebec, Canada. It is situated at the confluence of the Saguenay and Chicoutimi rivers. During the 20th century, it became the main administrative and comm ...

File:I-480 from Hyatt Regency ca 1988.jpg, Armand Vaillancourt's fountain sculpture ''Québec libre !'' (1971)

(formerly Justin Herman Plaza), in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

File:Le Coeur des Îles de Armand Vaillancourt.JPG, Le Coeur des Îles de Armand Vaillancourt File:Oumf 045.jpg, Oumf Festival Montreal File:Passerelle Armand-Vaillancourt 03.JPG, Passerelle

References

Sources

* Grande, John K. Playing with Fire Armand Vaillancourt Social Sculptor - Zeitgeist; Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1999 * Grande, John K. Jouer avec le feu; Armand Vaillancourt, Editions Lanctot; Montreal, Quebec, Canada 2001 * Grande, John K., Harper, Glenn, Sullivan, Francoise, Guy Sioui-Durandl, Armand Vaillancourt; Sculpture de Masse, Musee du Bas-St-Laurent, 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaillancourt, Armand 1929 births Living people Artists from Quebec Canadian sculptors Canadian male sculptors New Democratic Party of Quebec candidates in Quebec provincial elections People from Thetford Mines Quebec sovereigntists École des beaux-arts de Montréal alumni