Born: Montreal, 3 January 1917
Died: Montreal, 13 January 2005

Jacques Godefroy de Tonnancour was one of the most important Quebec and Canadian contemporary painters. He studied at the former École des Beaux-Arts du Québec starting in 1937, and worked in Rio de Janeiro 1945-1946.

From his early works in Laurentian landscapes, he evolved into an abstract style influenced by his friends Alfred Pellan, Paul-Émile Borduas, and Goodridge Roberts. His manifesto, Prisme d'yeux, was published in 1948 with Pellan's support; it diverged from the influential Refus global, published around the same time. He was the Canadian delegate to a UNESCO conference in Florence in 1950. He taught at the École des Beaux-Arts, and at UQAM after the École became part of it, from 1969 to 1982.

He was awarded a medal by the Canada Council in 1968, became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1979), won the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste's Philippe-Hébert medal in 1980, and was made an Officer of the Ordre du Québec in 1993. He has received honorary degrees from McGill and Concordia universities, and is a professor emeritus of UQAM.

After 1981, he moved away from the art world to undertake the study of insects, a childhood interest, and published a book, Les insectes: monstres ou splendeurs cachées, in 2002; it won the Prix Marcel-Couture.

Works:

Works in the metro:
Motorized sculpture	Place-Saint-Henri
Other public artworks:
• In Montreal:
La justice (sculpture)	Pavillon Maximilien-Caron, Université de Montréal
Triptyque (mural)	Pavillon Lionel-Groulx, Université de Montréal
Three paintings	3200 Jean-Brillant, Université de Montréal
Mural	Stade d'hiver, Université de Montréal

External Links: