Richard Lacroix

Richard Lacroix

Richard Lacroix, printmaker, painter, sculptor (b at Montréal 14 July 1939). He learned etching, lithography, silk-screen and block printing in Montréal with Albert DUMOUCHEL. Under an Arts Council of Canada grant (1961) he went to Paris, where he studied with Stanley Hayter at Atelier 17 and learned that studio's method of multicolour printing from one plate, a technique unknown in Canada. Shortly after his return to Montréal in 1964, Lacroix set up his own workshop and quickly drew other artists eager to learn the new techniques.

Committed to reaching the widest audience possible, he established La Guilde graphique (1966) to generate public interest by distributing prints. In 1964 he and several other artists had formed Fusion des arts in an attempt to reflect the concerns of Québec society through a Québec popular art. Fusion's activities were later politically scrutinized, resulting in police raids on its offices and the loss of a group commission for Expo 67. Lacroix himself provided a kinetic sculpture and produced a show for this event.

Lacroix's prints are often highly organized geometrics or carefully orchestrated abstractions of great technical expertise. By pioneering colour printing in intaglio, working to establish the print as an "original" work of art and attempting to make the public more aware of the print medium, he has greatly increased respect for Canadian prints. In 1985, 2 surveys of his work were held in Montréal, at the Musée du Québec and at the Galerie Estampe Plus.