Irène Legendre

{{Short description|Canadian-American painter}}

{{Infobox artist

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Irène Legendre

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| birth_date = 17 November 1904

| birth_place = Fall River, Massachusetts, United States

| death_date = {{Death year and age|1992|1904}}

| death_place = Cap-Rouge, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

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| nationality =

| education = École des beaux-arts de Québec (1932)

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| known_for = Painter

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| style = Abstract art
Landscape painting

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| awards = First Place, Quebec Provincial Competition, 1945

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Irène Legendre (born 17 November 1904 – 1992){{cite web |title=Artists in Canada |url=https://app.pch.gc.ca/application/aac-aic/artiste_detailler_bas-artist_detail_bas.app?lang=en&rID=9654 |website=Canadian Heritage |publisher=Government of Canada |accessdate=16 December 2018 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=LEGENDRE, IRÈNE |url=https://collections.mnbaq.org/fr/artiste/600000359 |website=Collections |publisher=Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec |accessdate=16 December 2018}} was a Canadian-American painter.

Life and work

Irène Legendre was born in Fall River, Massachusetts in November 1904. Legendre started attending École des Beaux-Arts de Québec in 1929, where she studied under Yvan Neilson and Lucien Martial. Legendre graduated in 1932 with a focus on the Cubism style. From 1939 until 1943, she resided in New York City where she studied painting under Amédée Ozenfant and sculpture with Alexander Archipenko.{{cite web |title=Artists: LEGENDRE, Irène |url=https://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=214 |website=Canadian Women Artists History Initiative : Artist Database |publisher=Concordia University |accessdate=16 December 2018}} After studying with Archipenko and Ozenfant, she shifted away from Cubism and began painting landscapes.{{cite book|author=Joan Murray|title=Canadian Art in the Twentieth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c2H5YdvHeAUC&pg=PT52|date=1 November 1999|publisher=Dundurn|isbn=978-1-55488-120-8|page=52}} While in New York, she participated in her first group show.

Legendre had returned to Canada by 1946. That year, she Legendre hosted a five-part series about modern painting on Radio-Canada. She organized art exhibitions, featuring works by herself and others, including Paul-Émile Borduas, Stanley Cosgrove, and Goodridge Roberts. In the 1960s, Legendre taught at the École des Beaux-Arts de Québec.{{cite web |title=1949 Borduas Sold by Klinkhoff "Magnificent" and "Especially Rare" |url=https://www.klinkhoff.ca/blog/5214/ |website=Alan Klinkhoff Gallery |accessdate=16 December 2018 |language=en}}

Legendre died in 1992 in Cap-Rouge, Quebec City.

Notable exhibitions

  • "Women Artists: Gaining Space, 1900-1965," 23 May-29 August 2010, Musée d'art de Joliette{{cite web |title=Women Artists: Gaining Space, 1900-1965, List of Works |url=http://www.museejoliette.org/files/expositionlinkspdf/Femmesartistes-ListofWorks0.pdf |website=Musée d'art de Joliette |accessdate=16 December 2018}}

Further reading

  • Legendre, Irène. Petite histoire de l'art moderne. Quebec: Ateliers du Soleil, 1947.
  • Legendre, Irène. Pompon chéri. Montreal: Éditions Beauchemin, 1959.
  • Legendre, Irène. "Letter." Artscanada 2.5 (Summer 1945): 151, 227.
  • Legendre, Irène. "Untitled: Pompon et le lapin-fée." [Reproduction] Bulletin (National Gallery of Canada) 3 (1979-1980): 34.

References