Horace Champagne

Canadian [b. 1937]

Pastel Society of America, Pastel Society of Canada, Pastel Society of Eastern Canada

Montreal-born Horace Champagne is the grandson of noted historical artist Charles Ernest de Belle. Champagne trained in fine art, graphic art, and design at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (Montreal) and the Ottawa School of Art. He additionally attended workshops in the United States, with Charles Movalli in Massachusetts, and Daniel Green in New York. After building a successful career in commercial art and advertising, in 1980 (at the ago of 42), the artist began to devote himself full-time to his art, with exhibits across the country. 

His love of the outdoors and fly fishing inspired many sketching strips to the lakes and streams of Northern Quebec and Ontario. Champagne also made regular trips to the Rocky Mountains and Newfoundland, as well and undertaking travels to Europe and the Northeastern United States. While Horace Champagne has worked with many media during his decades long career, it is his work in dry pastels for which he is best known. These impressive works are notable for their mastery of light, capturing the nuance of the season, time or day, or mood. Champagne’s subjects include landscapes, street scenes of Montreal and Old Quebec, and still lifes.

Horace Champagne resides in Sainte-Petronille, on Ile d’Orleans, Quebec, and continues to be active in a studio that he describes as being “surrounded by ancient birch, fields and farms, and the beauty of Old Quebec City, with crisp cold deep winters”.