Guido Molinari (October 12, 1933 – February 21, 2004) was 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 ...
artist, known internationally for his serial
abstract painting
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 ...
s.
Biography
Molinari was born in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
,
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 ...
to Italian heritage with his parents from Cune (
Borgo a Mozzano
Borgo a Mozzano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Lucca, in northern Tuscany (Italy), located on the Serchio River.
History
The town is mentioned for the first time in 879, when a document mentioned one place ''In loco Mozzano prope Dec ...
,
Tuscany
it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Citizenship
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 = Italian
, demogra ...
) and
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, Campania. He began painting at age 13, and his
existentialist
Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...
approach to art was formed during a bout with
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
at age 16, during which he read
Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his car ...
,
Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lite ...
,
Piaget Piaget () may refer to:
People with the surname
* Édouard Piaget (18171910), a Swiss entomologist
* Jean Piaget (18961980), a Swiss developmental psychologist
* Paul Piaget (disambiguation), several people
* Solange Piaget Knowles (born 1986) ...
, and
Camus. He studied 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 establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
(1948-1950) and the
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA; french: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, MBAM) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square ...
(1951), studying with
Marian Scott and
Gordon Webber.
He practiced
abstraction in New York, inspired by
Barnett Newman, and
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...
, then returned to Montreal where he founded the Galerie L’Actuelle and helped create the Non-Figurative Artists Association.
He married
Fernande Saint-Martin
Fernande Saint-Martin (March 28, 1927 – December 11, 2019) was a Canadian art critic, museologist, semiologist, visual arts theorist and writer. A graduate of the Université de Montréal and McGill University, her career began at ''La Presse'' ...
in 1958. Throughout the 1960s, Molinari made works consisting of vertical bands of equal width placed on a flat picture plane. The
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...
and the
Vancouver Art Gallery
The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Franc ...
each acquired a canvas from the ''Stripe'' series, as it is called, and one of the series was included in the important group exhibition ''The Responsive Eye'' held at the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in New York, along with works by artists such as
Frank Stella
Frank Philip Stella (born May 12, 1936) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. Stella lives and works in New York City.
Biography
Frank Stella was born in Ma ...
. Works of the ''Stripe'' series by Molinari along with works by Ulysse Comtois represented Canada at the 1968
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
.
He won a
Guggenheim Fellowship in 1967, was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the cen ...
in 1971, received the
Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award (1973) and 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 ...
in 1980.
He was a member of the
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880.
History 1880 to 1890
The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...
.
His work is known for its focus on modular and contrasting colours, shapes, and lines. It was exhibited worldwide, including in shows at the
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...
, the
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal
The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MACM) is a contemporary art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Place des festivals in the Quartier des spectacles and is part of the Place des Arts complex.
Founded in 1964, it is ...
(
retrospective, 1995), in the
Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
Museums in this group include:
Locations
Americas
* The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...
and the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in New York (''The Responsive Eye'', 1965).
He taught for 27 years at
Sir George Williams University
Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974.
History
In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène ...
and
Concordia University, and retired in 1997.
In 2004, Concordia recognized him with a posthumous honorary doctorate.
An avid art collector, his extensive private collection included the work of
Mondrian and the manuscript pages of Mondrian`s original defition of Neo-Plasticism (1926),
Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...
,
John Cage,
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns (born May 15, 1930) is an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker whose work is associated with abstract expressionism, Neo-Dada, and pop art. He is well known for his depictions of the American flag and other US-related top ...
, and Quebec artists
Denis Juneau,
John Lyman, and
Ozias Leduc. His obituary in the ''National Post'' quoted the then director of the
Art Gallery of Ontario
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Bev ...
,
Matthew Teitelbaum
Matthew D. Teitelbaum (born February 13, 1956) is a Canadian art historian, who is currently the director of Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.
Early life and education
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Teitelbaum is the third child and on ...
, as saying he owned
Barnett Newman,
Richard Serra
Richard Serra (born November 2, 1938) is an American artist known for his large-scale sculptures made for site-specific landscape, Urban area, urban, and Architecture, architectural settings. Serra's sculptures are notable for their material q ...
,
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
,
Piet Mondrian and
Ellsworth Kelly
Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, c ...
.
Guido Molinari died of pneumonia after having bone cancer which migrated from his lungs.
Works
* Mutation sérielle verte-rouge, 1966, acrylic on canvas, 205.7 x 248.9 cm
* Blue Quantifier #25
Record sale prices
In a sale of 15 June 2022, Molinari's ''Série noir/blanc'', acrylic on canvas, signed and dated “11/67” on the reverse, 81 x 68 ins ( 205.7 x 172.7 cms ), realized a price of $264,000.00.
Documentaries
* ''Guido Molinari: The Colour of Memory''
Guido Molinari : The Colour of Memory
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molinari, Guido
1933 births
2004 deaths
20th-century Canadian painters
Canadian male painters
21st-century Canadian painters
Artists from Montreal
Canadian people of Italian descent
Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
Modern painters
Officers of the Order of Canada
École des beaux-arts de Montréal alumni
Canadian contemporary artists
20th-century Canadian male artists
21st-century Canadian male artists
Canadian abstract artists