L’ombre des Pins – Richard Lacroix

LACROIX, Richard (1939-) 
“L’ombre des pins” Etching
Signed and dated on the lower right: Richard Lacroix 1985
Titled and numbered on the lower left: 63/75
66×63,5cm – 26×25″

Richard Lacroix (born July 14, 1939) is a Canadian engraver, painter and sculptor who increased recognition for Canadian printmaking. He was the founder of Atelier Libre (1964), the first printshop in Canada which made printmaking facilities available to contemporary artists, as well as the Guilde Graphique (1966).

Born in Montreal, Lacroix attended art classes at the School of Art and Design at Montreal’s Beaux-Arts. He later learned printmaking and wood engraving from Albert Dumouchel and other teachers at the Institute of Graphic Arts in Montreal (1957-1960). In 1960 he received a certificate in teaching and in methodology at l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Montreal as well as a certificate in aesthetics and history of art from the Institut des Arts Appliqués, Montreal. He was hired as a professor of engraving at the l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Montreal in 1960.

Lacroix’s “vivacious and textured” polychrome intaglio engravings and paintings of acrylic on canvas, sometimes diamond-shaped, are abstract. They reflect Minimal or Colour Field art practice or have forms drawn from nature or organic life. In 1965, Canadian Art magazine said that he gained a reputation as “one of the finest print-makers in the country for the purity and clarity of his editions”.

Besides his participation in numerous solo and group shows at public and private galleries, both in Canada and abroad, he had a retrospective at the Guilde Graphique, Richard Lacroix: Exposition rétrospective: Gravures et peintures choisies (1959-1984) (1984). In 1985, he received museum attention with a retrospective Richard Lacroix: 25 ans de gravures et de peintures choisies (1960-1985) at the Musée du Québec. At the same time, he had another show at the Galerie Estampe Plus. In 1995, the Centre d’exposition de Baie-Saint-Paul organized Richard Lacroix: 10 ans de gravures et de peintures choisies (1985-1995).

His work is in such public collections as the National Gallery of Canada, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ) (95 works), and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, UK.