Lot #20: "Cote Nord"Signed Andre Michel Quebec Oil Painting On Board

Born in Avignon, France, Andr Michel attended the cole des beaux-arts in his hometown (1958-1960) where he won first prize in drawing in his first year. With an extraordinary self-confidence, the young artist wrote a manifesto published in French newspapers under the title of "Positionnisme" in which he presented his vision of painting inspired by surrealism. From 1967 to 1969, his taste for adventure and exoticism led him to travel across Europe and Africa and to live for more than two years in Mauritius and Reunion Island.Invited to exhibit in Montreal in the fall of 1970, in the midst of the October Crisis, Andr Michel took the opportunity to visit Canada from one end to the other and more particularly the North Shore of the St. Lawrence. The artist discovered wide open spaces there that impressed him so much that he decided to go and live in Sept-les for a few months. He would live there for 18 years! It was during his excursions in the forest, alone, that he met the Innu (Montagnais). This was the beginning of a great story of friendship and respect between the artist and the first peoples that has lasted for over forty years. Invited to accompany them, he observed them, followed them on their expeditions, shared their food, collected objects they no longer used, all the while painting landscapes. Thanks to his objective eye and the understanding he had of this people losing their identity, the paintings, drawings and sketches he subsequently made of them are, beyond their great artistic quality, of inestimable documentary worth. They constitute a testimony to their way of life at the end of the last century. Andr Michel's achievements in Sept-les are not limited to his works. With the Innu objects he collected, he founded the Sept-les Museum in the Old Hudson Bay Company Trading Post in 1975. Ten years later, this small museum gave rise to the Cte-Nord Regional Museum, which was set up by Andr Michel in a brand new building.