Draft:Raynald Leclerc

Raynald Leclerc, born December 12, 1961 in Saint-Michel-de-Bellechasse in the Province of Quebec, is a Canadian artist and painter.

Biography
Raynald Leclerc is a self-taught painter from Quebec; he grew up on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, and from an early age he began drawing. At the age of 18, he enrolled in pre-university studies in architecture, and during his studies he improved his technique with his first exercises in draughtmanship. He presented his first individual exhibition in 1984 at the Quatre Saisons Gallery in Quebec City, and a year later the art broker Lise Leclerc became his agent. In 1994, he undertook a trip to Western Canada, settling in Victoria on Vancouver Island. The results of his excursions there can be found in dozens of drawings and paintings on canvas. In 1998, the Galerie d'Art Internationale de Québec became his official agent for all of Canada; several exhibitions were presented in Quebec, Ottawa, Toronto, and Edmonton during the following years. Between 2013 and 2014, Raynald Leclerc undertook three trips to Provence, France, where he made several sketches that he brought back to his studio in Quebec. Inspired by his Provençal itinerary, he produced a series of paintings that led to exhibitions in Quebec and France. He exhibited his works at the Hesbé Bolzonello gallery in Saint-Paul-de-Vence until 2017. Today his paintings continue to be exhibited across Canada.

Style
While remaining faithful to the genres of landscape—and cityscape, Raynald Leclerc's work has evolved over the course of his career. In the early 1980s, he had two significant influences: the painter Christian Bergeron introduced him to painting with a knife, while Francesco Iacurto made him aware of the importance of contrasts and the intensity of colours. The art of Raynald Leclerc is also inspired by the Impressionists, especially Claude Monet, in the importance of nature and light, while it retains a distinctive character thanks to the architectural solidity of its composition and the textural variation of its impasto. This characteristic combination in his art, which gives rise to the expression “sculpting light,” came to the fore in 2003 with the exhibition “In the Heart of Old Quebec,” marking the twentieth year of his career.

Always ready to embark on new paths, in 2010 Leclerc produced a series of paintings entitled "l'île d'Orléans" in which he explored the play of light on the surface of objects and the canvas itself. Over the years, his spatula work became more pronounced and his colors more vivid, signaling a more expressive tendency in his art, which suggests a certain kinship with Post-Impressionist painters, notably Vincent van Gogh. This trend became particularly evident in 2014 with the exhibition “Leclerc en Provence.” His interest then focused on the reflections and movements of water in its transmutations from liquid into vapor and snow, such as in the exhibition "Leclerc au fil de l'eau" in 2016. At the same time, the progressive expansion of his viewpoint, which found its fullest expression in the 2019 exhibition “Leclerc from a Bird’s-Eye View, ” has enabled him to capture innovative perspectives on Quebec City and its surroundings, while encouraging the viewer to reflect on the very nature of painting.

Canada
"A Canadian Artist's Journey", West End Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, April 2013
 * Galerie d'Art Quatre Saisons inc, Quebec City (Quebec), October 1984
 * Galerie le Chien D'Or, Quebec City (Quebec), April 1988
 * Old Village Gallery, Boucherville (Quebec), October 1989
 * Quebec City Carnival Painting Symposium, February 1991
 * La Falaise Art Gallery, Sherbrooke (Quebec), November 1991.
 * Quebec Art Galleries Salon, Place Bonaventure, Montreal (Quebec), November 1995
 * Symbol Art Gallery, Montreal (Quebec), October 1996
 * Symbol Art Gallery, Montreal (Quebec), October 1997
 * International Art Gallery, Quebec City (Quebec), October 1998
 * International Art Gallery, Quebec City (Quebec), April 2000
 * International Art Gallery, Quebec City (Quebec), April 2002
 * "In the Heart of Old Quebec", International Art Gallery, Quebec, May 2003
 * "Memories of a Great River", International Art Gallery, Old Quebec (Quebec), April 2006
 * "Quebec at Night", International Art Gallery, Old Quebec, Quebec, April 2008
 * "The Île d'Orléans as seen by Raynald Leclerc", International Art Gallery, Quebec (Quebec), May 2010
 * Artworld Fine Art, Toronto, Ontario, May 2011
 * Koyman Galleries, Ottawa, Ontario, November 2011
 * "In the Wake of the St. Lawrence", International Art Gallery, Quebec City (Quebec), May 2012
 * West End Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, April 2015
 * "Leclerc Over the Water", International Art Gallery, Old Quebec, Quebec, April 2016
 * Artworld Fine Art, Toronto, Ontario, April 2017
 * "Charlevoix to Provence", Koyman Gallery, Ottawa (Ontario), April 2018
 * "Québec as the Crow Flies" International Art Gallery, Old Quebec (Quebec), May 2019

France

 * “Leclerc in Provence”, Domaine Souviou, Le Beausset (Provence), June 2014

Publications
Île d'Orléans seen by Raynald Leclerc, text Robert Filion, photos Louis Charbonneau, International Art Gallery, 2010, 72 p., (ISBN 978-2-9808252-1-7)
 * Raynald Leclerc - In the Heart of Old Quebec, text by Robert Filion, photography by Louis Charbonneau, Quebec, International Art Gallery, June 2003, 72 p., (ISBN 2-9808252-0-4)
 * Dans le Sillage du Saint-Laurent, poem by Raynald Leclerc, photography by Louis Charbonneau, Quebec, International Art Gallery, May 2012, catalog 30 p.
 * A Canadian Artist's Journey, written by Robert Filion. Lithochic edition, design L'Orange Bleue, catalog 32 p.
 * Leclerc en Provence, Sylvain Harvey edition, text by Robert Filion, legal deposit: National Library and Archives of Quebec & National Library and Archives of Canada, 2014, 66 p., (ISBN 978-2-923794-67-9)
 * Leclerc au Fil de l'Eau, text by Robert Filion and William J. Berg, International Art Gallery, 2016, 34 p.
 * Leclerc from a Bird's-eye View, text Robert Filion, Deschamps print, International Art Gallery, 2019, catalog 34 p.
 * Ever Higher (Leclerc always higher) William J. Berg, Quebec 2019, booklet 20 p.

Honors

 * Honorary Certificate of the F.P.M., 12th edition, winner of the first prize: Bourse de la collection Loto Québec for the excellence of his artistic work, April 2000.
 * Tribute to Raynald Leclerc, event held at the Cercle de la Garnison de Québec under the honorary presidency of the Honorable J.Michel Doyon, Lieutenant-Governor of Québec, June 2, 2017.