Ozias Leduc

Ozias Leduc’s work was not much exhibited in his lifetime, but he left an extensive archival record including his abundant correspondence, exhaustive documentation of his commissions, photographs and preliminary sketches, and his writings on art, both published and unpublished. These primary sources have yet to be studied in-depth, despite the ever-increasing interest in his work. Since his death in 1955—also the year of the first touring exhibition of his work organized by the National Gallery of Canada—theses, dissertations, exhibitions, and publications on Leduc have continued to grow in number, drawing more and more public attention to a demanding body of work whose full scope is yet to be explored.

View of *Mauve Twilight*, 1921, by Ozias Leduc, in the exhibition *Ozias Leduc: An Art of Love and Reverie*, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1996.

Key Exhibitions

1916

February 20–March 15, Quelques peintures et dessins de O. Leduc, Saint-Sulpice Library, Montreal. Monsieur Olivier Maurault P.S.S., curator. Booklet.

1945–46

December–January, Exhibition of works by Edmond Dyonnet, Ozias Leduc, Joseph Saint-Charles, Elzéar Soucy, Musée de la province, Quebec City. Gérard Morisset, curator. Booklet.

1955

December 9–19, Ozias Leduc, 1864–1955, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Travelling exhibition: Montreal, Quebec City, Rimouski, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Toronto. Jean-René Ostiguy, curator. Catalogue.

1974

February 1–March 3, Ozias Leduc. Symbolist and Religious Painting, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Travelling exhibition: Paris, Brussels, Hamilton, Montreal. Jean-René Ostiguy, curator. Catalogue.

1978

October 6–24, Dessins inédits d’Ozias Leduc the Draughtsman, Sir George Williams Art Galleries, Montreal. Travelling exhibition: Regina, Vancouver, Kingston, Toronto, Rimouski, Quebec City, St. Catharines, Windsor. Laurier Lacroix, curator. Catalogue.

1986

February 14–March 23, Les paysages d’Ozias Leduc, lieux de méditation, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Travelling exhibition: Guelph, Windsor, Edmonton, Fredericton. Louise Beaudry, curator. Catalogue.

1996

Ozias Leduc: An Art of Love and Reverie, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1996. Travelling exhibition: Quebec, Toronto. Laurier Lacroix, director. Catalogue.

2017

June 3–September 17, Confidential Experiments: The Still Lifes of Ozias Leduc, Musée d’art de Joliette. Laurier Lacroix, curator. Catalogue.

Selected Writings by Ozias Leduc

Poster for the exhibition *Ozias Leduc: Une œuvre d’amour et de rêve*, 1996, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Exhibition curated by Laurier Lacroix.

Catalogue for the exhibition *Ozias Leduc : Peinture symboliste et religieuse*, 1974, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Exhibition curated by Jean-René Ostiguy.

“The Decoration of St. Ninian’s Cathedral.” The Casket, September 3, 1903, 2.

In 1953 and 1954 Leduc published a number of poems in the journals Arts et pensée and Amérique française, and also a text, “L’histoire de Saint-Hilaire—On l’entend, on la voit,” in Arts et pensée 3, no. 18 (July–August 1954): 165–68.

Laurier Lacroix, ed. “Le Journal de Sherbrooke d’Ozias Leduc.” Revue d’études des Cantons de l’est/Journal of Eastern Townships Studies 8 (Spring 1996): 85–91.

Lectures by Ozias Leduc

Address to the Catholic Farmers’ Union of Saint-Hilaire, 1929.

Address to the Shuffleboard Club of Saint-Hilaire, 1932.

“Remarques sur l’art,” L’heure provinciale, CKAC radio, August 21, 1936.

“Réflexions sur l’art,” Seminary of Saint-Hyacinthe, December 11, 1939. (This text also appeared in Le Courrier de Saint-Hyacinthe between September 24 and October 29, 1980.)

Selected Critical Writings

Beaudry, Louise. “Une analyse formelle et iconographique de quatre paysages (1913–1921) d’Ozias Leduc (1864–1955).” Master’s thesis, Université de Montréal, 1983.

Borduas, Paul-Émile. “Quelques pensées sur l’oeuvre d’amour et de rêve de M. Ozias Leduc.” Canadian Art (Summer 1953): 158–61, 168.

Chauvin, Jean. Ateliers : Études sur vingt-deux peintres et sculpteurs canadiens. Montreal: Éditions du Mercure, 1928, 118–26.

Catalogue for the exhibition Laboratoire de l’intime : Les natures mortes d’Ozias Leduc, 2017, Musée d’art de Joliette. Exhibition curated by Laurier Lacroix.

Dorval, Suzette. “Interview d’Osias [sic] Leduc.” Amérique française (March–May 1949): 21–23.

Gagnon, Maurice. “Poèmes philosophiques du peintre Ozias Leduc.” Technique (November 1941): 640–43, 660.

Gehmacher, Arlene. “In Pursuit of the Ideal: The Still Life Paintings of Ozias Leduc.” Master’s thesis, University of Toronto, 1986.

———. “The Mythologization of Ozias Leduc, 1890–1954.” PhD diss., University of Toronto, 1995.

Lacroix, Laurier. “La décoration religieuse d’Ozias Leduc à l’évêché de Sherbrooke.” Master’s thesis, Université de Montréal, 1973.

———. “La chapelle de l’évêché de Sherbrooke: quelques dessins préparatoires d’Ozias Leduc.” Bulletin 30/1977, Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, 3–18.

———. “The Dream Mountain of Ozias Leduc.” artscanada (October–November 1978): 9–15.

———. “Deux ‘Canayens’ à la recherche de la nouveauté: Claude Paysan (1899) du Dr Ernest Choquette, illustré par Ozias Leduc.” In À la rencontre des régionalismes artistiques et littéraires. Le contexte québécois 1830–1960, edited by Aurélien Boivin and David Karel, 237–58. Quebec City: Presses de l’Université Laval, 2014.

Lanthier, Monique. “Portrait et photographie chez Ozias Leduc.” Master’s thesis, Université de Montreal, 1987.

Catalogue for the exhibition *Ozias Leduc: An Art of Love and Reverie*, 1996, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Exhibition curated by Laurier Lacroix.

*Ozias Leduc et son dernier grand oeuvre*, by Lévis Martin, 1996, published by Fides Editions.

Martin, Lévis. Ozias Leduc et son dernier grand oeuvre. La décoration de l’église Notre-Dame-de-la-Présentation de Shawinigan-Sud. Montreal: Fides Editions, 1996.

Naud, Marie-Hélène. Ozias Leduc et la décoration intérieure de l’église Saint-Romuald de Farnham (1905–1912). Quebec City: Les Éditions GID, 2014.

Ostiguy, Jean-René. “Étude des dessins préparatoires à la décoration du baptistère de l’église Notre-Dame de Montréal.” Bulletin 15/1970, Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada.

Senécal, Micheline. Les tableaux d’Ozias Leduc à la cathédrale Saint-Charles-Borromée de Joliette. Quebec City: Les Éditions GID, 2008.

Stirling, J. Craig. Ozias Leduc et la décoration intérieure de l’église de Saint-Hilaire. Quebec City: Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Quebec, 1985.

Winters, Barbara Ann. “The Work and Thought of Ozias Leduc in the Intellectual and Social Context of His Time.” Master’s thesis, University of Victoria, 1992.

Audio and Video

Correlieu, dir. Jean Palardy (Ottawa: National Film Board, 1959), 19 min and 22 sec.

Ozias Leduc, peintre décorateur d’églises, dir. François Brault (Ottawa: National Film Board/CBC, 1984), 35mm, 27 min.

Quatre artistes canadiens (Duguay, Gagnon, Leduc, Walker), dir. Albert Tessier (Quebec City: BAnQ, 1948), 16mm, 15 min.

Sources & Resources