Gaétan Therrien (sometimes written “Thérien”) attended the École d’architecture de Montréal (1942-1944) and the École des beaux-arts de Montréal (1950). After spending time in France, he taught at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal as well as in the seminaries of Joliette and Sainte-Thérèse. He was a founding member of the Association des Sculpteurs du Québec and participated in the Joliette Symposium in 1966. In 1975, he wrote Manifeste 221 in denunciation of current trends in art (the use of recycled, mundane materials and Pop art), which he felt had strayed entirely from any ideals of beauty. His work often explored religious themes and incorporated various materials: limestone, onyx, hammered copper and marble. His monumental sculptures, however, were more abstract, conveying notions of harmony in relation to human resilience. Examples include Le coureur de Marathon (1983), based on a text by Yves Thériault, and Les muses (1986, rebuilt in 2001), an illuminated fountain for the City of Laval. In 1988, Therrien got back in touch with Alfred Pellan, one of his former professors at the École des beaux-arts, and published never-before-heard recordings of their conversations.
THERRIEN, Gaétan (1927-2005)
Gaétan Thérien, Le poète, 1966. Pierre. Photo : Ginette Clément, Musée d’art de Joliette.
