Marcelle Ferron

Marcelle Ferron studied at École des beaux-arts de Québec. Training under Paul-Émile Borduas, Michel Blum and Jean Paul Lemieux is recorded. The recorded working language is French. The field of work recorded is stained glass. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are public art. Employment is recorded with Laval University. Works named in the authority record are Untitled. Work by Marcelle Ferron is recorded in the collections of National Gallery of Canada, Montreal Metro, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts. Distinctions recorded are Knight of the National Order of Quebec, Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec, Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and Prix Paul-Émile-Borduas.

• Name — Marcelle Ferron • Born — 29 January 1924 • Birthplace — Louiseville, Quebec, Canada • Died — 19 November 2001 • Place of death — Montreal, Quebec, Canada • Resting Place — Mount Royal Cemetery • Spouse — René Hamelin • Field — Stained glass artist, painter • Movement — Automatistes

Ferron was born in Louiseville, Quebec on January 29, 1924. Her brother Jacques Ferron and her sister Madeleine Ferron were both writers. She studied at the École des beaux-arts de Québec before dropping out, unsatisfied with the way the school's instructors addressed modern art. Ferron was an early member of Paul-Émile Borduas's Automatistes art movement. She signed the manifesto Refus global, a watershed event in the Quebec cultural scene, in 1948.

In 1953, she moved to Paris, where she worked for 13 years in drawing and painting and was introduced to the art of stained glass, for which she would become best known. She was particularly inspired by the work of French glass artist, Michel Blum and his innovations. Ferron returned in 1966 to Quebec, where she worked exclusively with stained glass for the next two decades. • Illustration — Stained-glass window by Marcelle Ferron, at Champ-de-Mars metro station in Montreal One of her stained-glass windows is at Champ-de-Mars metro station in Montreal, Quebec. It was one of the first non-figurative works to be installed in the metro, in defiance of the didactic style present in other works of the period, and signalled a major shift in public art in Montreal between the policies of then art director Robert Lapalme and future art director and fellow automatiste Jean-Paul Mousseau. Other examples of her works can be seen at Vendôme metro station, Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine, and the ICAO headquarters, in Montreal; the Place du Portage in Gatineau, Quebec; and the Granby, Quebec courthouse.

She died in Montreal, Quebec, on November 19, 2001.

At the Heffel Auction, Post-War & Contemporary Art, November 24, 2022, lot 17, Sans titre, oil on canvas, 63 3/4 x 51 in, 161.9 x 129.5 cm, Auction Estimate: $200,000 - $300,000 CAD, realized a price of $1,801,250 (including Buyer's Premium). At the Cowley Abbott Auction, Important Canadian Art (Sale 1), December 1, 2022, lot #43 Sans titre (1960), oil on canvas, 74.75 x 98.5 ins (189.9 x 250.2 cms), Auction Estimate: $550,000.00 - $750,000.00, realized a price of $1,260,000.00.