Marc-Aurèle Fortin

Marc-Aurèle Fortin was born in 1888 in Sainte-Rose, the same suburb north of Montreal native to Clarence Gagnon. He was known for using his innovative painting technique to depict landscapes of regions around Quebec. Emerging in Montreal while Contemporary Arts Society leader John Lyman was absent, Fortin contributed towards a new more modern style of painting during a very fragmented period in the Montreal artistic community.
Alongside Fortin, and various other artists of the Contemporary Arts Society in Montreal, in November 1931 John Lyman established a school called the Atelier, in connection with the McGill University Department of Extra-Mural Relations. It was through this group that the public recognized Fortin’s innovative celebration of the beauty of nature. Most of his paintings depict the rustic charm of Quebec areas not yet encroached upon by twentieth-century urbanization. His works celebrate the poetry of nature’s beauty, especially through the ways he juxtaposes the natural world to urbanization and industry.

Submitted by Thompson Landry Gallery