Literature
Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Germain Lefebvre, Janine Leroux-Guillaume et al., “Marc-Aurèle Fortin: peintre-graveur, 1888-1970”, Montreal, 1983, page 76
Colin S. MacDonald, “A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume 1: A-F”, 5th Edition, Revised and Expanded, Ottawa, 1997
Born in Sainte-Rose, Marc-Aurèle Fortin’s early artistic training came at home under the tutelage of artists including Ludger Larose and Edmond Dyonnet before his studies would take him to Chicago, New York, Boston and, later, to France. It was after a brief trip to France in 1920 that Fortin began to work full-time as a painter and to show his work, which included scenes of the island of Montreal, predominantly rural at the time, and of his birthplace Sainte-Rose, north of the island. During the summers, he travelled to Quebec City, Île d’Orléans and the Charlevoix region, sketching and painting houses and rural scenes. These vibrant works that capture the charm of small-town Quebec are what the artist became best known for in his career. Fortin appreciated Quebec history, the life of the rural villages and landscape, saying "Just like the French, we must excel in landscape". Author Germain Lefebvre describes the artist’s range of Quebec subjects: “From countryside to city, he painted the peaceful roads of St. Rose, his birthplace, the mountains of Piedmont and the fishermen boats in the Gaspé. He witnessed the strong progress of urbanization: a network of railways in the district of Hochelaga, construction of the Jacques- Cartier bridge and the maritime port of Montreal."
“Paysage avec maisons” is quintessentially Fortin, with its billowy clouds, verdant trees and quaint farmhouses in shades of blue, yellow and pink. Fortin’s highly decorative, colourful landscapes celebrate the picturesque in nature. Despite a traditional training, he developed a modern view of rural subjects. Lefebvre describes the uniqueness of Fortin’s charming depictions of nature: “Fortin experiments with the most varied techniques, developing a pictorial language to translate more expressive emotions, feelings. The arabesques of the line, the contrasts and harmonies of colour, movement of the composition, this is what captivates the painter and spurs his research to distinguish his work from the cliches of the small landscape artists.”
Fortin was particularly talented and innovative in his use of colour throughout his prolific career. He began experimenting with watercolours in 1918, when he took an interest in depicting large elm trees in vibrant shades of green. This led to further watercolours and oils in vibrant and cheerful colour combinations, and increasingly large trees. In the late 1930s, Fortin began his “black period” and “grey period”, experimenting with the application of pure colours onto a black or grey surface. He then mixed watercolour with black pastels and pencils, which created moodier, monochromatic compositions. Late in his career, Fortin discovered casein, which excited him due to its similarities to watercolour but with more opacity.
In 1963, a retrospective show of Fortin’s work was held at the National Gallery of Canada. In the exhibition catalogue, Jean-René Ostiguy describes the artist’s uniquely colourful and pleasing style: “After his trip to Europe, when his style came close to resembling that of the Group of Seven, he succeeded in preserving a quality of expression belonging to the people... Fortin oscillated between decorative imagery and Fauvism. When he was at his best, he mingled the two...”.
