signed recto; signed & dated verso
Marcelle Ferron was born to a middle-class family with five children, three achieved fame in Quebec and internationally, all five were accomplished in their fields. Marcelle Ferron had to overcome several obstacles, including the loss of her mother at a young age and illness. These experiences, along with a forward-thinking, liberal-minded father, helped to foster in her a strong and independent spirit. Ferron became a dedicated follower of Borduas and the Automatiste movement, and was a signatory of the legendary Refus Global manifesto in 1948. She was steadfast in her artistic, intellectual and political beliefs, and was willing to accept the consequences rather than compromising her principles – she was dismissed from several schools as a girl, prematurely left the Ecole des Beaux-arts in Quebec City due to artistic differences with an instructor, and was expelled from France due to her leftist politics and associations. Ferron lived her life true to herself.
Throughout her prolific and decorated career, Marcelle Ferron exhibited broadly, both at home and internationally. During the Paris years (1953-1966) Ferron’s work achieved prominence, and she flourished as an independent artist. Her paintings became progressively more bold and vibrant, with dynamic strokes thickly applied to her canvases, often with a palette knife or spatula.
While in France she discovered the art of stained glass, and later found herself gravitating toward the medium. From 1963-65 she learned the techniques of glass maker Michel Blum in his Paris studio, and after her return to Montreal in early 1966, she dedicated herself almost exclusively to stained glass for many years before resuming painting once again.
Marcelle Ferron’s work has been featured in more than thirty shows in Canada and numerous international exhibitions. In 1970, The Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montreal staged a retrospective of her work, subsequently shown in Paris at the Canadian Cultural Centre in 1972.
