Rita Letendre
(1928)
Previously Sold Artwork by Rita Letendre
The artist, Rita Letendre was born in Drummondville, Quebec in 1928, but moved with her parents to Montreal in 1941. Beginning her career as an artist during the 1950’s and early 1960’s in Montreal, she participated in the Automatiste movement and painted with that intuitive strategy. She eventually became a leading exponent of the abstract colorist movement. Over time, her work has evolved through various media, from brush to spatula, pastel, silkscreen, airbrush and back to pastel. Having participated in more than 65 solo exhibitions, her work encompasses monumental murals as large as 60 feet by 60 feet, down to the smallest silkscreen work.
In the words of the artist, “My new pictures seem more aggressive, more intense, to me. I feel like a space pushing against its barriers. Light and colour, and sometimes the absence of colour, have always been the key elements in my painting. With its different values, colour reflects the shades of life. But light, from the first shock of birth to the last breath of life - light is my life.”
Rita Letendre’s artwork is widely collected throughout North America by governments, public galleries and private organizations. Her work has been exhibited internationally in major centers such as Paris, Rome, London, Tel Aviv, and Osaka. In North America, she has shown her work in such important art hubs as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.