Yvanhoé Fortier holds a degree in sculpture from the École des beaux-arts de Montréal (1960) and a Brevet de pédagogie (teaching diploma) from the Ministère de l’Éducation du Québec (1970). He placed second in sculpture at the 1962 Concours artistique de la province de Québec and has taught at both the École des beaux-arts de Montréal and as a full professeur at the Université du Québec à Montréal. A founding member of the Association des Sculpteurs du Québec (ASQ), he participated in “Confrontation” from 1964 to 1967, as well as several other major group exhibitions organized by the ASQ, including “Terre des hommes” from 1968 to 1971. In 1965, he was invited to the Symposium de sculpture du Québec at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. In addition to wood, marble and limestone, he works primarily in cut and welded metal (iron, aluminum and steel), creating often large-scale sculptures which reflect his command of the medium’s expressive potential. This mastery is particularly evident in his development of textural detail and his imaginative use of positive and negative space, demonstrated in Tour sublunaire (1965), L’enfant au coq (1963) and La famille sublunaire (1963). He has also explored “inter-modular” works of a simplified, minimalist nature. In 1971, he was among the artists to design and complete a monumental “inhabitable” sculpture at the Vaudreuil cultural centre. It was to be the first in a village of sculpture-workshops, but the project was ultimately abandoned.
SEE:
« Incontournable : La sculpture » by Serge Fisette, ESPACE, vol 5 #2, p.5-8.
« L’oeuvre et son modèle » by Serge Fisette, ESPACE #36, p. 38.
« Artcité : Much ado… » by Gilles Daigneault, ESPACE #58, p. 33.