Clarence A. Gagnon was born on November 8, 1881, in Montreal and died on January 5, 1942, in Montreal. He said, “I didn’t settle in Paris out of a sense of being misunderstood (…) There, I only paint Canadian subjects, I only dream of Canada. The subject remains fixed in my mind, and I am not captivated by the charms of changing landscapes. In Switzerland, in Scandinavia, everywhere, I find my French Canada.”
– Clarence Gagnon, 1931
Award-winning writer, outdoor enthusiast and advocate of Quebec crafts, Clarence Gagnon is best known for his landscapes of the Quebec countryside and illustrations from the novel by Louis Hemon’s Maria Chapdelaine.
Gagnon was born in a small village in Quebec. Despite his Parisian training and the studio he maintained there throughout his career, he never lost his love for the Laurentians and the Charlevoix region in eastern Quebec, which inspired many of his paintings. His mother nurtured his early interest in drawing, and despite his father’s desire for him to pursue a career in business, he began studying drawing and painting in 1897 at the age of 16 under William Brymner of the Art Association of Montreal.
His early paintings, depicting rural scenes, caught the eye of Montreal businessman and collector James Morgan, who became his patron. Thanks to the monthly stipend he received, Gagnon was able to travel to Europe to study at the Académie Julian in Paris under Jean-Paul Laurens in 1904 and 1905. Early in his career, he distinguished himself by the quality of his engravings. In 1905, he received an honorable mention at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in Paris.
