Suzanne Rivard-Lemoyne (March 28, 1928 - October 29, 2012) was an artist born in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

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 ...

who later moved to

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

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and is known for her significant contribution to arts administration. She was responsible for developing

Art Bank The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal in ...

, the Canada Council's art collection program in 1972. Rivard-Lemoyne became a Visual Arts Officer for the Canada Council in 1970 and started the art collection and leasing system for government offices, offering regional artists support and those interested in collecting access to local art. She played a major role in supporting and developing the local community of artist-run centres and contemporary art galleries. Rivard-Lemoyne won the 2003

Governor General's Awards The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

in Visual and Media Arts for Outstanding Contribution in arts support.

Education and early work

Suzanne Rivard-Lemoyne trained at the École des beaux-arts de Québec, as well as with

André Lhote André Lhote (5 July 1885 – 24 January 1962) was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art. Early life and education Lhote was born ...

in Paris in 1957. Rivard-Lemoyne's teaching career spanned from 1952 to 1986, at the École des beaux-arts de Québec, 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 ...

, and the University of Ottawa. She did mural painting in Montréal, including at

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

Arts administration and teaching

Rivard-Lemoyne started doing arts administration in 1969, after moving to Ottawa, in the Cultural Division of the

Secretary of State of Canada The Secretary of State for Canada, established in 1867 with a corresponding department, was a Canadian Cabinet position that served as the official channel of communication between the Dominion of Canada and the Imperial government in London. Sco ...

. In addition to her administrative work at the Canada Council, Rivard-Lemoyne was Chair of the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...

's Department of Visual Arts and Theatre (1974-1982) and is recognized for significantly developing the department. She was also on the board of the Ottawa Arts Centre Foundation.

Artwork

Suzanne Rivard Lemoyne-At Her Desk-1960s

Rivard-Lemoyne helped to organize the ''Canada Trajectories 73'' exhibition at the Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris and in London. The

Ottawa Art Gallery The Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG) is a municipal gallery in Ottawa, Ontario that opened in 1988 at Arts Court. The gallery has a permanent collection of over one thousand works, houses the City of Ottawa-owned Firestone Collection of Canadian Art, and ...

presented an exhibition of Rivard-Lemoyne's drawings and paintings in 1996 called ''Survol''. The exhibition curator, Diane Génier, describes Rivard-Lemoyne's drawings and paintings as atmospheric and process driven, dealing with themes of light and immensity. Rivard-Lemoyne started making large-scale monochromatic encaustic paintings in 1991, and prior to that in the 1980s, painted expressionistic landscapes with the later works in this series making use of simplified colour fields. Rivard-Lemoyne won the First Grand Prize of the Concours artistique de la province de Québec in 1958. Her work is in the collections of the

City of Ottawa The City of Ottawa is the corporate entity of municipal government in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The corporation is responsible for provision of services to the public as well as enforcement of municipal by-laws. It is overseen by the City Manage ...

, the

Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec ( en, National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), abbreviated as MNBAQ, is an art museum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The museum is situated in Battlefield Park and is a complex consisting of four bui ...

, Concordia Art Gallery, and private collections in Montréal, Ottawa, Québec, and Paris.

Exhibitions

* 1952, ''Concours artistiques de la province de Québec'', Musée du Québec * 1955, ''La matière qui chante'', Galerie Antoine, Montréal * 1957, ''Biennial of Canadian Painting'',

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 l ...

* 1959, ''The Non-Figurative Artists' Association of Montréal'', Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal * 1961, ''Canada Council Award-Winners'', Canadian Conference of Arts, St-Lawrence Centre, Toronto * 1988, ''Montréal Women Artists of the 1950s'', Concordia Art Gallery * 1990, ''Silences'', The Gallery at Arts Court, Ottawa * 1992, ''Picture a Place: Art contemporain d'ici'', The Gallery at Arts Court, Ottawa

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rivard-Lemoyne, Suzanne 1928 births 2012 deaths Artists from Ottawa Artists from Quebec City Canadian women artists French Quebecers Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts winners