Henriette Fauteux-Masse

Henriette Fauteux-Massé was a Canadian painter known for her abstract compositions, which were characterized by geometric forms and a textured application of paint. Born in Coaticook, Quebec, she initially pursued dance and performance before turning to visual art in 1941, when a friend gifted her an easel, stool, and cast models. Although she had no formal artistic training at the outset, Fauteux-Massé developed her skills through independent study and exposure to contemporary art movements.

Between 1946 and 1948, she traveled to New York City three times, engaging with artists and visiting museums. Her artistic influences included French painters such as Nicolas Poussin and early Italian masters like Giotto and Piero della Francesca. In 1951, she received a Quebec government scholarship that enabled her to study in Paris with Cubist painter André Lhote. However, rather than fully adopting Lhote's structured approach, she continued to refine her own style upon returning to Montreal, spending five years working in isolation to develop her distinct abstract language.

Fauteux-Massé's mature work from the 1950s and 1960s features bold, textured, and geometric compositions, often created on rigid supports that allowed for an assertive application of paint. She utilized collage techniques in her preparatory studies, arranging and layering forms to construct balanced yet dynamic compositions. Unlike the spontaneous, gestural approach of the Automatists, her work exhibited a strong sense of order and structural coherence, blending free experimentation with meticulous organization.

She was an active participant in the Canadian and international art scenes, exhibiting in venues such as The Winnipeg Show (1959), the International Painting Competition in Granby (where she won first prize), and Parisian institutions like the Musée d'art moderne and the Salon des femmes peintres. Fauteux-Massé was a member of the Non-Figurative Artists' Association of Montreal (1957-1960) and a founding member of the Conseil de la peinture in 1966. She later joined the Société des artistes professionnels du Québec in 1968.

After 1970, her focus shifted toward landscape and portraiture, which did not receive the same level of recognition as her earlier abstract work. Nevertheless, her contributions to Canadian modern art remain significant. Her work is held in major collections, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, ensuring her legacy within the history of Quebec and Canadian abstraction.