Jacques de Tonnancour

Jacques Godefroy de Tonnancour, OC OQ (3 January 1917 – 13 January 2005) was a Canadian artist and art educator from Montreal, Quebec.

Jacques Godefroy de Tonnancour was born on 3 January 1917 in Montreal, Quebec. He studied at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal in 1937 but after three years left as he found the teaching too conservative. He admired the work of Goodridge Roberts and Paul Emile Borduas. He joined the Contemporary Art Society of Montreal in 1942.

Though he admired Borduas as a painter, he was not in agreement with the political direction of the Automatistes. In 1948, he helped compose the manifesto which Alfred Pellan used to establish the Prisme d'yeux group. "We seek a painting freed from all contingencies of time and place, of restrictive ideology, conceived without any literary, political, philosophical or other meddling which could dilute its expression or compromise its purity" stated a translation of Prisme d'yeux that was published in Canadian Art. This group opposed those who would sign the Refus Global later that year, feeling that painting should not be a political act.

de Tonnancour had a long and active career as an artist, moving between representational and abstract approaches; producing paintings, sculptures, collages and photographs at various points in his career. His work is included many public collections including the National Gallery of Canada,; Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University; Carleton University Art Gallery;Art Gallery of Nova Scotia;Art Gallery of Hamilton;Confederation Centre Art Gallery and Museum;Museum London;Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery; among others.

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