Clarence Alphonse Gagnon, 1881-1942

Clarence Alphonse Gagnon (1881-1942)

Gagnon was born in Montreal and studied drawing and painting there under William Brymner at the Art Association of Montreal between 1897 and 1900. With the patronage of the Montreal businessman and collector James Morgan he travelled to Europe and studied from 1903 until 1905 at the Académie Julian in Paris under Jean-Paul Laurens. On his return to Canada in 1909, he settled at Baie-Saint-Paul near Montreal and started sketching in the surrounding area. He became a full member of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1922. He began to grind his own paints and after 1916 his palette consisted principally of pure whites, reds, blues and yellows which gave his paintings a brilliancy of colour. From 1924 to 1936, he lived in Paris where he produced illustrations in coloured woodblocks for L.F. Pouquette's Le Grand Silence blanc, Paris 1926 (see lots 209, 211 and 219) and Louis Hémon's Marie Chapdelaine, Paris 1933 (see lots 205, 208, 209 and 219) which tells of life on the Canadian frontier. Most of the present works originate from the Estate of Madame Clarence Gagnon, the artist's wife