BIOGRAPHY
Pierre Lefebvre was born in Hull, Quebec, in 1954. He has been painting full time since 1980 and he had his first exhibition in 1981 in his home town.
He moved to Montreal in 1982, exhibited in Ottawa and Toronto and in 1987 he decided to spend some time in France. For a year he moved back and forth from Ile St. Louis in Paris to the south of France, painting in anticipation of his first solo exhibition in Montreal.
On his return to Montreal in 1988 he exhibited his paintings. As of April 2001 the Galerie Valentin represents Mr. Lefebvre’s work.
SUBJECT-MATTER
Pierre Lefebvre paints portraits, interior scenes and still lifes. He does not use live models for his portraits and if one looks very carefully at the figures portrayed, both men and women, there is a subtle reference to the artist himself. These individuals are very distinguished and reserved. The women in his work are often portrayed with their faces slightly turned from the picture plane and they have an enigmatic, introspective quality to them which can at times also project a haughtiness. Figures placed in the foreground take up most of the canvas. The majority are single portraits in which the women may be seated, perhaps holding a book or just patiently waiting, or they may be carrying out some task such as setting a table.
The standing nude figures look somewhat ill at ease, more reserved and timid. Nudes set in an interior scene are turned in on themselves, sometimes cloaked in lengths of diaphanous material. There is no sense of the coquette in these images which are set to perfection by the artist in a contrasting atmosphere of light and shade.
His compositions are structured, often geometric and always engaging. In many of his canvases the eye is drawn down into the painting, inviting the viewer in.
Pierre Lefebvre’s portraits and still lifes project an atmosphere of mystery and tranquility. When we examine carefully the details in his work, we realize that the artist employs a very skillful symbolism to project human separation. For instance, a jagged outline of draped material leads to a broken goblet spilling red wine over the pages of an open book. The choice of a lemon placed next to the goblet is not by chance. Nor is the spilt wine staining the pages of the book an aimless gesture. Every detail is meticulously thought out. The artist plans his subject before starting to work on the canvas, developing a general outline of what the finished painting will be. Once his ideas have come together, the paint brush flies across the canvas transcribing what Lefebvre has mentally created.
TECHNIQUE
Pierre Lefebvre paints in oil. His colours can at times be intense but unobtrusive. Some paintings appear monochromatic even though the colours chosen are not from the same colour group. This may be the result of his brush strokes drawing out the colour; a vigorous brush, a sure and determined stroke, nervous but precise. In applying the colour in short brush strokes in different directions, he enlivens the surface of the work and the colour as a consequence gains in nuance what it loses in intensity.
To quote Michèle Lauzon in a 1995 statement about the artist, “whether through colour, light or emotion, little by little Pierre Lefebvre has succeeded in establishing a balance in his paintings, affirming the undeniable talent of the artist.”
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2006 Galerie Valentin, Montréal
2002 Galerie Valentin, Montréal
1995 Galerie Vincent, Ottawa
1993 Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montréal
1991 Galerie Vincent, Ottawa
1989 Galerie Montcalm, Hull
1988 Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montréal
1986 Galerie Vincent, Ottawa
1984 Kinsman-Robinson Galleries, Toronto
1983 Galerie Vincent, Ottawa
1981 Galerie Gérard Raymond, Hull
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012-2001 Artists' Choice, Galerie Valentin, Montréal
2011-2001 Small Size Works, Galerie Valentin, Montréal
2006-05 Masters Gallery, Calgary
2007-06-05-04-03 Artists' Choice, Galerie Roberts, Toronto
2005 Impromptu, Galerie Valentin., Montréal
2004-03 Wallace Galleries, Calgary
2004-1983 Galerie Vincent, Ottawa
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Robert Bernier, "Pierre Lefebvre : Tic, tac, tic tac temps….", Parcours Art et art de vivre, Vol. 12, no. 3, Autumn 2006
- Claude Bouchard, "La poésie visuelle de Pierre Lefebvre", Le Droit, April 16-17 2005
- Robert Bernier, La peinture au Québec depuis les années 1960, Les Éditions de l’Homme, 2002
- Bernard Lévy, "Les atmosphères de Pierre Lefebvre", Vie des arts, No 188, Autumn 2002, p.17 http://www.erudit.org/culture/va1081917/va1163255/52835ac.pdf
- Jean Dumont, "Dans les marges du réel", Parcours l’informateur des arts, vol. 7, no 4, Autumn 2001
- Magazin’Art, 8e année, No 1, Autumn 1995
- Guy Robert, "Une quête approfondie", Le Collectionneur, Vol. 9, No 33, October 1995
- Jules Arbec, "L’œuvre de Pierre Lefebvre", Magazin’Art, 6e année, No 1, Autumn 1993
- Edgar Demers, "Pierre Lefebvre à Paris", Le Collectionneur, Vol. VI, No 22, Spring 1988
COLLECTIONS
Cape Breton University, Nouvelle-Écosse
Art Gallery of Mississauga, Ontario
Alain Hirsch Construction Corp., Californie
Many private collections in Europe, in the United States, in Australia and in Canada
