BELZILE, Louis (1929)

Louis Belzile studied at the Ontario College of Art from 1948 to 1952 and with André Lhote in Paris in 1953. A signatory of the Manifeste des Plasticiens in 1955, along with Jauran (Rodolphe de Repentigny), Jean-Paul Jérôme et Fernand Toupin, he was one of the main figures of Quebec geometric abstraction before moving on to other pictorial themes. In the gardens of the Musée du Bas-Saint-Laurent in Rivière-du-Loup is Belzile’s Les trois âges (1987), a rare sculpture from an artist known primarily for his paintings. A true specimen of miniature architecture, it is composed of twelve cement panels capped with a covering of finely moulded wood, evoking the capital and entablature of a column. Enigmatic in its construction, the piece features the simple forms that Belzile has favoured since the beginning of his career, yet goes beyond abstraction to make direct reference to concrete elements in our environment.