PAUL VANIER BEAULIEU. RCA. [b. 1910].

 

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Born in Montreal, to Joseph-Alphonse Beaulieu and Augustine Vanier, the eldest of seven children. His father was a barrister who enjoyed painting as a hobby. Paul studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, from 1927-30 and 1936-37 (friends at the school were Jean-Paul Lemieux and Stanley Cosgrove). He opened a commercial art studio with Gonsalve Desaulniers (who left after a year). He became a waiter after a meeting with a café owner who allowed him to show his paintings. After saving enough money he traveled to Paris in 1938, where he joined his brother Claude who had been there since 1935. He purchased a studio in Montparnasse and took further studies at l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts (Paris). He continued to work at this studio until the Nazi invasion in 1940. As a result, he was interned at St-Denis from 1940 to 1944 (along with his brother Claude, Canadian artist Jean Dallaire and 160 other Canadians). He continued to paint during his internment. Two of his works at this time were a portrait of a woman “Marika” and a study of Christ in the style of George Rouault. After the war he reopened his studio and continued to work there until 1973 when he returned to Canada. His favoured mediums were etching (drypoint, aquatint), watercolour and ink. He began to work with graphics in 1951 and a year later his aquatint & etching of a woman was included in Paul Duval's book, “Canadian Drawings and Prints” [1952]. During this period he painted a series of nudes, abstract still-lifes, and continued to develop his watercolours and prints (his roosters were popular with collectors). One of his aquatints “Les Oiseleurs”, was selected by the Howard Smith Paper Mills for an ad in Canadian Art [Aug. 1961] (the human figures in this work suggest the influence of Bernard Buffet). Through the years he worked in diverse styles. His 1970's landscapes, had irregular patches through the foreground that gave greater depth to the overall composition. In others of he verges on the nonobjective. His still-lifes showed the influence of Picasso. He exhibited work in New York City, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Paris and in Canada. Has held solo shows at Galerie l’Apogée, Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts [1968]; in Montreal at the Waldorf Galleries [1954], Dominion Gallery [1957,1959], and Galerie Libre [1970]. In 1983 he was given a retrospective in Ottawa at Galerie d'Art Vincent. He received various awards and his work is in the National Gallery of Canada, Musée du Quebec, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Musée de Art Moderne Paris, Bezalel Museum Jerusalem, and numerous other collections in Canada, France, & internationally.

Bibliography: MacDonald, “A Dictionary of Canadian Artists”, [vol. 1, pp. 220-221].