Claude Le Sauteur

1926 - 2007

Claude Le Sauteur was born in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec and grew up mainly in the city of Trois-Rivières. In 1945, despite his father’s disapproval, he attended the École des beaux-arts de Québec, where he studied under the direction of Jean Paul Lemieux, Jean-Philippe Dallaire, Omer Parent, who would have an undeniable influence on his work. After his studies, unsure of being able to make a living from painting, Le Sauteur began a career in advertising and in printing, working freelance for such magazines as Maclean’s and Chatelaine. He eventually landed a position at Cabana Séguin, a major Montreal agency. That is where he gradually developed his characteristic style, composed of imposing characters with spare though evocative features, landscapes dominated by pastel tones applied in solid spans, and an ineluctable human presence. His job did not prevent him from painting. After a first very successful solo exhibition in 1976, he divided his time between Boucherville and Les Éboulements, in the Charlevoix region. It was on retiring, four years later, that he fully devoted himself to painting, settling permanently in Charlevoix in 1986. Le Sauteur was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1989), a member of the Order of Canada (2000), and a Knight of the National Order of Quebec (2000).