Marc-Aurèle Fortin

Marc-Aurèle Fortin was born in 1888 in Sainte-Rose, near Montreal, where he spent his childhood in the shade of imperial elm trees, which became a preferred subject from 1920 to 1930 and also brought him renown. In 1939, he participated in the New York World Fair, where he was awarded the bronze medal for his painting March Snow, and in 1942, he was elected an associate member of the Royal Canadian Academy. His work was the subject of several retrospectives during his lifetime, including an exhibition in 1944 at the National Gallery of Canada that travelled to Montréal and Québec. Fortin died in 1970 at Sanatorium de Macamic in Abitibi, having lost his vision and both legs.