Born in Montreal, Quebec, he studied at l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Montreal, under Jean Simard, René Chiseine, Maurice Raymond. Julien Hébert and others; later in Paris under Fernand Leger. He exhibited his work for the first time in 1948 at the First Exhibition of Caricaturists of Canada. In 1949 he won a prize at the 66th Salon du Printemps at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
During his 1963 solo exhibition at the Waddington Galleries, Dorothy Pfeiffer noted the following of his work, “People may argue as to whether or not Normand Hudon's painting falls into a category of fine art. Yet wit and satire have played an important part in the arts of painting, sculpture, music and literature throughout the ages. Hudon is an artist in every sense of the word. He stands in a class by himself in Canada. Let us hope we shall be spared a contingent of Hudon-imitators.” In this particular show he exhibited 56 works all of which Dorothy Pfeiffer found to be “...elegantly humourous never merely bitter, brutal or banal.” Robert Ayre noted of his 1965 solo exhibition, “Norman Hudon is at the Waddington Galleries with dozens of coloured ink drawings. They were ideas for the ceiling he is painting for the Energy building of Expo '67, but they can stand alone as lively examples of his imagination and wit.” His ceiling at Expo '67 was very well received. He also did the marquette of a mural on commerce in the Canadian pavilion.
For a number of years he appeared on television and in night clubs where he entertained his audiences with his wit and cartoons, often with comedian Jacques Normand.
He was commissioned to do a mural for the Beaudry Street side of Berrie-Demontigny Metro station in Montreal which includes as subjects many of the colourful personalities in Montreal's history including Camilien Houde, Louis Cyr and others. He consulted Leon Trepanier, noted historian for this work.
He was featured as 'artist of the week' by “Tele-Radiomonde”, Montreal (September 2, 1967) in which he considered his best subjects for cartooning to have been Duplessis, Sarto Fournier, and Ti-Toine Rivard. Hudon died in 1997 in Montreal.
Source: "A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume I: A-F", compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1977
