The Plasticien movement was a Canadian non-figurative painting movement, which appeared around 1955 in Quebec. It was a more orderly style of painting in reaction to Les Automatistes In 1954, a young critic and painter newly returned from Paris, , reviewed an exhibition of four young artists whom he called Les Plasticiens. The name itself expressed their exclusive concern with the abstract properties of painting. They focused on colors, lines, contrast; completely rejecting the idea of Surrealism and their attachment to the idealism of the European Constructivist movement. He pointed out the difference of their approach from automatism. In his criticism he wrote:

Every painting must have its own particular form to make a totality, resistant to and not assimilated by an ambiance and where each part depends on the whole and vice-versa.

The movement was launched in 1955 by the ''Manifeste des plasticiens'', written by de Repentigny (under the name Jauran) and signed by

Louis Belzile Louis Belzile (April 17, 1929 – February 12, 2019) was one of the main figures of geometric abstraction in painting in Quebec and one of the members of the Plasticiens group in Montreal along with Jauran (Rodolphe de Repentigny), Jean-Paul Jé ...

, and

Fernand Toupin Fernand Toupin (1930, Montreal–2009 Terrebonne) was a Québécois abstract painter best known as a first-generation member of the avant-garde movement known as Les Plasticiens. Like other members of the group, his shaped paintings drew upon ...

. In the manifesto they acknowledged a kind of debt to the Automatists, recognizing their place in the revolutions that had helped to free the arts from “servitude to a materialistic ritual”. They also called on artists to follow the example of

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being ...

. The Plasticiens sought to objectify paintings instead of paint objects. For example, Toupin shaped his own canvases into geometric shapes so that they would be objects of another kind. Guido Molinari created Plasticien works between 1959 and 1962. Other artists associated with the movement are Claude Tousignant,

Denis Juneau Denis Juneau (September 30, 1925 – October 6, 2014) was a Canadian painter and a leading figure in the Canadian plasticien movement. Biography Juneau was born in Verdun, Quebec, Canada in 1925. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts de Montr ...

George E. Russell George Ellis Russell (January 23, 1933 – May 8, 2016) was a Canadian painter and art teacher known for his philanthropy. His hexagonal paintings are filled with geometric shapes and pure colours. Creating hundred of artworks in his signature he ...

and Fernand Leduc.

References

{{Canadianart Quebec art Modern art Canadian art movements