Joseph Armand Robert Vaillancourt (; born September 3, 1929) is a Canadian sculptor, painter and

performance artist Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

from

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. He is known for his public art fountain entitled '' Vaillancourt Fountain'' located in San Francisco. He lives in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Biography

Vaillancourt was born on September 3, 1929, in Black Lake, Quebec, Canada. He received his art training at the

École des beaux-arts de Montréal École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

. During the early 1960s he was friends with

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

, who wrote the song, " Suzanne" about Vaillancourt's girlfriend, Suzanne Verdal. Vaillancourt and Verdal have a son who lives with Verdal. In 1971, a publicly commissioned fountain entitled '' Vaillancourt Fountain'', often called ''Québec libre!'', was installed in the Embarcadero Plaza in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, United States. One of his best known sculptures, ''Québec libre!'' is representative of the relationship between Vaillancourt's art and his political convictions. It is a large concrete fountain, 200 feet long, 140 feet wide and 36 feet high sitting near the city's financial district at the

Embarcadero Center Embarcadero Center is a commercial complex of four office towers, two hotels, and a shopping center located in San Francisco. An outdoor ice skating rink is open in the center during winter months. Embarcadero Center sits on a site largely bo ...

. The night before its inauguration, Vaillancourt inscribed ''Québec libre!'' in red letters, to note his support for the

Quebec sovereignty movement The Quebec sovereignty movement (French: ''mouvement souverainiste du Québec'', ) is a political movement advocating for Quebec's independence from Canada. Proponents argue that Quebecers form a distinct nation with a unique culture, language, ...

and more largely, his support for the freedom of all people. The following day, seeing that the city's employees erased the inscription, he jumped on the sculpture during its dedication to reinscribe the phrase. On November 11, 1987, the fountain became the object of an incident involving U2's singer

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...

. During a free concert, Bono climbed the sculpture to write, "Rock N Roll Stops Traffic", referring to the power of rock. Vaillancourt flew from Quebec to California after the incident, and spoke in favor of Bono's actions at U2's Oakland performance several days later. Vaillancourt said, "Good for him. I want to shake his hand. People get excited about such a little thing." Armand Vaillancourt C2 Montreal 2352012

As of 2008, Vaillancourt lives in a 19th-century stone house in Montreal, across the street from Jeanne-Mance Park. His archives, consisting of 500 cardboard boxes on metal shelves, plus nearly 100 notebooks in which he records all of his activities, are stored on the second floor of his house. His art has a political motivation, and, in addition to Quebec independence, he is concerned about environmental issues such as pollution caused by exploitation of

oil sands Oil sands are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. They are either loose sands, or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, soaked with bitumen (a dense and extremely viscous ...

, the destruction of honey bee populations, and human rights issues such as the rights of indigenous peoples. He won the Prix Paul-Émile-Borduas, awarded by the

Government of Quebec The Government of Quebec (, ) is the body responsible for the administration of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. The term is typically used to refer to the executive of the day (i.e. Minister of the Crown, mini ...

in 1993. In 2004, he was awarded the title of Chevalier of the Ordre national du Québec. In 2008, a retrospective of his work was exhibited at the Musée des beaux-arts de Mont-Saint-Hilaire in

Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec Mont-Saint-Hilaire () is a suburb of Montreal on the South Shore (Montreal), South Shore of southeastern Quebec, Canada, on the Richelieu River in the La Vallée-du-Richelieu Regional County Municipality, Regional County Municipality of La Val ...

. File:Cénotaphe de Chicoutimi.jpg, Armand Vaillancourt's Cenotaph in Chicoutimi, Quebec File:I-480 from Hyatt Regency ca 1988.jpg, Armand Vaillancourt's fountain sculpture ''Québec libre !'' (1971) Embarcadero Plaza (formerly Justin Herman Plaza), in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

File:Le Coeur des Îles de Armand Vaillancourt.JPG, Le Coeur des Îles de Armand Vaillancourt File:Oumf 045.jpg, Oumf Festival Montreal File:Passerelle Armand-Vaillancourt 03.JPG, Passerelle

References

Sources

* Grande, John K. Playing with Fire Armand Vaillancourt Social Sculptor - Zeitgeist; Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1999 * Grande, John K. Jouer avec le feu; Armand Vaillancourt, Editions Lanctot; Montreal, Quebec, Canada 2001 * Grande, John K., Harper, Glenn, Sullivan, Francoise, Guy Sioui-Durandl, Armand Vaillancourt; Sculpture de Masse, Musee du Bas-St-Laurent, 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaillancourt, Armand 1929 births Living people Artists from Quebec Canadian sculptors Canadian male sculptors Canadian contemporary artists New Democratic Party of Quebec candidates in Quebec provincial elections People from Thetford Mines Quebec sovereigntists École des beaux-arts de Montréal alumni