Join us on Friday, November 8th for PA Day Camp at the OAG! 🎨
Kids ages 6 to 12 will explore the Gallery and directly engage with current exhibitions at this fun, friendly and bilingual day camp.
Register 🙂👉 link in bio

Soyez des nôtres le vendredi 8 novembre ! 🎨
... La GAO offre des camps de jour artistiques bilingues lors de journées pédagogiques. Ces journées, pour les 6 à 12 ans, feront découvrir la Galerie et ses expositions de manière amusante et avec entrain. Inscriptions 🙂👉 suivez le lien dans notre bio.

If you missed our Conversation with artist @chun_hua_catherine_dong and OAG Chief Curator, @rebeccabasciano this past Sunday, you can watch a recording on our YouTube page 🙂👉 link in bio.

#OAGInstagramTakeover with @geraldtrottier (post 6/6)

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PORTRAITS, SELF-PORTRAITS

Gerald Trottier’s portraits often feature people closest to him, including his wife, Irma, with whom he shared a happy and loving marriage, and close friends such as George ...Johnston and D.K.

“Despair of D.K.” is set in Trottier’s Calumet Island studio. It shows PK seated on a chair, with Trottier standing before a portrait of his friend. The painting conveys Trottier’s profound grief in the wake of his best friend’s suicide.

While his portraits of others are significant, Trottier’s self-portraits define his artistic legacy. In the 2002 OAG catalogue, curator Brenda Wallace confirmed, “His self-portraits serve as a fascinating introduction to the highly complex work of this significant artist.”

These self-portraits reflect his evolving technique and personal journey. In the 1961 expressionist work “Self-Portrait,” Trottier’s gaze is distant and stark behind his trademark dark-rimmed glasses.

One of his most iconic works is “Tableau of Myself” (c. 1967). This mixed-media 3D piece shows Trottier’s head, arm, and torso (extended in mâché and plastic-permeated fabric) emerging from a richly painted surface. Its materials reflect his interests, including graphic bits, fragments of typography, Johnston’s poems, and religious symbols.

In the mid-80s and 90s, his self-portraits became more intense and introspective. Abandoning his glasses, he painted himself with a penetrating gaze, often in a pointillist style, capturing fine details like every hair in his beard, or stitches in a sweater.

Lifelong friend Nancy Baele quoted Trottier, “It all boils down to being who you are. And my work is what I am.”

1. Irma and Gerald, 1949 📸: Denise Trottier
2. Portrait of Irma, 1947 📸: OAG
3. Portrait of George Johnston, 1966 📸: Trottier Archives
4. The Despair of D.K., 1982 📸: OAG
5. Self-Portrait, 1961 📸: OAG
6. Trottier in front of Tableau of Myself 📸: Rod MacIvor
7. Trottier and Trottier, 1967 📸: Trottier Archives
8. Self Portrait, 1990 📸: OAG
9. Self-Portrait with Purple Sweater, 1991 📸: OAG

#OAGInstagramTakeover with @geraldtrottier (post 5/6)

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ABSTRACTION, ILLUSTRATION, LITURGICAL ART

Gerald Trottier’s artistic evolution in the 1950s marked a period of growth in medium, style and subject matter. His attachment to medieval imagery and ...stained-glass elements continued, often featuring large, bold lines framing symbols, shapes, and figures (“Medieval Images”, 1955).

From 1950-52, Trottier did humorous everyday life illustrations for the Ottawa Evening Citizen’s Saturday magazine section “Question of the Week.” These scenes were highlighted in clear, fluid, bold lines (Bed making August 28, 1951).

In 1955, Trottier, alongside Ottawa artists Tolgesy, Penn and Lubbers, founded The Guild Studio for Contemporary Liturgical Art. Their goal was “to uplift people and generate a spirit of worship and contemplation in them’. As Sandra Dyck, Director of Carleton University Art Gallery, noted: “Gerald Trottier was sustained throughout his life by his faith in God and his work; the two were for him inseparable.”

In the late 50s, he designed four cover designs for Canadian Art Magazine (Canadian Art Cover, January, 1958). These abstract non-representational abstract works further showcased Trottier’s freedom of form and interpretation.

Trottier’s faith-inspired work continued through the 1960s with Roman Catholic church liturgical appointments. He created crucifixes, stained glass windows, murals and sculptures like Blessed Sacrament’s “Triumphant Christ,” 1962, a bronze cross depicting Christ’s triumph over death. Its second casting was displayed at the 1st Canadian Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition and now resides in the National Gallery of Canada’s permanent collection.

1. Medieval Images, 1955 📸: Trottier Archives
2. Bed making, August 28, 1951 📸: Trottier Archives
3. Lubbers, Trottier, Pen, Tolgesy, Guild studio, 1955 📸: Trottier Archives
4. Head of Christ, 1952 📸: Anne Buchan
5. Cover of Canadian Art, January, 1958 📸: OAG
6. St. Basil’s Church, 1961 📸: Trottier Archives
7. (Detail) Blessed Sacrament Corpus, 1962 📸: Denise Trottier
8. St. Elizabeth Church, stained glass window, 1965 📸: Rod MacIvor

#OAGInstagramTakeover with @geraldtrottier (post 4/6)

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TROTTIER’S MASTER SERIES: “THE EASTER SERIES”

In “A Pilgrim’s Progress—The Life and Art of Gerald Trottier,” Sandra Dyck, Director of CUAG, explains that Trottier’s Easter series transcends ...Easter itself, despite its name and depictions of crucifixion and resurrection, capturing the “Carnival of Life in all complexity and absurdity.”

Trottier’s complexity is rooted in personal experience, including the trauma of discovering his father’s suicide by hanging at age 11 and his lifelong friendship with the poet George Johnston.

In this series, Trottier confronted his preoccupation with themes of life’s struggle, meaning, and inevitable end, as described in Johnston’s 1965 poem, “Under the Tree.” This poem and Trottier’s art are intertwined in an “Under the Tree” poster and the impact of Johnston’s poem is also reflected in the work “Dark-Tongued Earth Tell Our Deeds to the Dark” (1980).

“The Easter Trees” (1980) shows Trottier seated on the far right, studying a sheet of paper called “The Wounded Creature of Earth.” In this work, like others in the Easter Series, Trottier paints human figures in a Brueghelian manner, with banners and naked trees.

In “The Pilgrimage of Old Age” (1982), set in a Calumet Island landscape, where he had a studio for over 40 years, Trottier painted trees as totems of experience and a parade of life policed by Knights of Columbus dignitaries.

“Man in Landscape” (1980) explores man in all his vulnerabilities in a bleak and dark landscape, and was one of the exploratory works to the Easter Series.

In a letter to the architect, Walter Wiltshire, Trottier said, “I have been fascinated all of my life with organizations, with garish costumes, obscure rituals and elitism… they seem to embody most of the unpleasant characteristics of public organizations with the purport to work for the public’s good. My work seems to develop more surrealistic elements, and I am unsure why.”

1. The Pilgrimage of Old Age, 1982📸: OAG
2. Dark Tongued Earth Tell Our Deeds to the Dark, 1980📸: OAG
3. The Easter Trees, 1980📸: OAG
4. Under the Tree, 1981📸: OAG
5. Man in Landscape, 1980📸: Rod MacIvor

#OAGInstagramTakeover with @geraldtrottier (post 3/6)

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TROTTIER’S OTTAWA PUBLIC ARTWORKS

Gerald Trottier’s public art can be found throughout Ottawa, offering residents and visitors a chance to experience his work up close.

“The 1962 Pilgrimage... of Man” mural at Carleton University is perhaps his most well-known public artwork. Spanning 168 feet by 10 feet, it portrays man’s timeless quest for knowledge and understanding. A former Director of the National Gallery described it as “one of the very great pieces of permanent art in this country.”

“Les Chrétiens” (1963), one of Trottier’s large oil paintings exhibited at the 8th São Paulo Biennial (1965), is on loan from the OAG’s Permanent Collection and is currently displayed in the lobby of Le Germain Hotel in Ottawa.

“Mana from Heaven” (c. 1963) is a 7-ton suspended sculpture in the Campanile Campus, Federal Study Centre (formerly Notre Dame Convent). Ottawa architect Tim Murray described this brazed bronze and steel sculpture as “blessings from heaven’.

In 1967, Trottier designed and fabricated a weathervane and 16 lighting stands for the Bandstand at Vincent Massey Park in Ottawa.

The current Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library houses two of his colourful mosaic murals (1972). Made from glass mosaics, ceramic tiles, children’s wooden blocks, newspaper types, gold keys and bronze maple leaves, the fate of these murals remains uncertain, as the building has been sold to a private company.

The “City of Ottawa” mural (1989-90) is in the foyer at 333 Preston Street. This mural, commissioned by the Sakto Corporation, spans 24 by 7 feet and shows a panoramic view of downtown Ottawa and Gatineau from the Alexandria Bridge to the National Archives of Canada.

1. Pilgrimage of Man, 1962 📸: Denise Trottier
2. Les Chrétiens, 1963 📸: OAG
3. Mana from Heaven, circa 1963 📸: Trottier Archives
4. Mosaic Murals of main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library, 1972 📸: Adam Trottier
5. Mosaic Murals of main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library (detail), 1972 📸: Adam Trottier
6. Gerald Trottier, Mural for Mitel (Study), n.d. 📸: OAG
7. Details of the mural of the City of Ottawa, 1989-90 📸: Denise Trottier

#OAGInstagramTakeover with @geraldtrottier (post 2/6)

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INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL RECOGNITION

Gerald Trottier secured his place in the Canadian art scene with diverse works reflecting social realism (“Three Men Lighting Up,” 1947), the use of black ...lines and geometric shapes (“Monuments of Decadence,” 1957), and his transformation of sacred objects into a contemporary perspective (“Prayer,” 1953). Contributions like these earned Trottier exhibitions alongside artists such as Léon Bellefleur, André Bieler, Paul-Émile Borduas, A.J. Casson, Stanley Cosgrove, Carl Schaefer and Jack Shadbolt.

Trottier’s influence extended internationally through his studies at the Art Students League in New York and scholarships to study Medieval Art in Europe. His participation in the 1st International Biennial of Modern Christian Art (Austria, 1957) and the 1958 Inter-American Biennial of Painting and Graphic Art further highlighted his international distinction.

Trottier’s international pinnacle was in 1965 when eight of his large expressionist and mystical oil paintings were chosen to represent Canada at the 8th Sao Paulo Biennial. This exhibition solidified Trottier’s reputation on both national and international stages.

His national recognition continued in the 80s and 90s, in what Sandra Dyck, Director of Carleton University Art Gallery, called in her book, “A Pilgrim’s Progress,” “the most dramatic phase in his artistic journey” with Trottier’s mastery of his self-portraits and his 80s master series, called the “Easter Series.” The work in this series exemplifies Trottier’s attention to detail and highlights his preoccupation with the inevitability of life and death. Gallerist Ruth Freiman, Robertson Gallery owner, in 1981, also said that these paintings were of the best periods of his career.

1. Three Men Lighting Up, 1947 📸: OAG
2. Monuments of Decadence, 1957 📸: OAG
3. Prayer, 1953 📸: OAG
4. Figure (Female), 1947 📸: OAG
5. Untitled (Last Judgement), 1964 📸: OAG
6. Resurrection I, 1982 📸: OAG
7. Pilgrimage I, 1980 📸: OAG

Join us today and tomorrow as we spotlight Gerald Trottier (1925-2004)—an Ottawa-born artist whose work left a profound impact on local, national, and international art communities, through the words of Denise Trottier (@geraldtrottier), Gerald Trottier’s daughter #OAGInstagramTakeover (Post ...1/6)

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GERALD TROTTIER AND HIS ART

“Gerald Trottier was one of several artists born in Ottawa with an enormous local and national artistic impact.” OTTAWA ART & ARTISTS by Jim Burant.

Born and raised in the Glebe, Trottier studied at the Ottawa Technical High School, the Art Students League in New York, and later in Europe. His work was exhibited in 5 international exhibitions, 18 solo, and 53 group exhibitions alongside notable Canadian artists such as Claude Breeze, Alex Colville, A.Y Jackson, Jean Paul Lemieux, Henri Masson, Jean-Paul Riopelle, and Michael Snow.

Trottier’s work spans many media, including watercolours, oil, acrylic, pen and ink, crayon, charcoal, pastel, silkscreen, collage, linograph, lithograph, mosaic, stained glass, sculpture, and postage stamps.

This diversity also translates into content and subject matter: exploring social realism, landscape, surrealism, figure studies, symbols and abstraction, sacred and liturgical, portraiture and self-portraiture, and the human condition.

“Gerald Trottier was a genius — a master of expressing the complexity of the human condition. I consider Gerald Trottier the greatest visual artist in Canadian history.” Patrick Mills, artist, gallerist and owner of The Art Factory, Renfrew, Ontario

The Ottawa Art Gallery holds in its permanent collection 104 of Trottier works (one of the most extensive collections of any Ottawa artist).

1. Ottawa Technical High School, 1943 📸: OAG
2. Untitled (Abstract), 1962 📸: OAG
3. Man with Cigarette and Glass, c. the early 1950s 📸: OAG
4. Shiners Banner, 1967 📸: OAG
5. Self-Portrait, 1985 📸: OAG
6. National Capital stamp, 1965 📸: Trottier Archives
7. Untitled, c 1983-84 📸: Denise Trottier
8. Je Suis Canadien, 1950 📸: Denise Trottier

Thank you for joining us at FOCUS FEST today! 📸 It was a great day! 😊 Special thanks to artists @jmthomas56, @olijohn, and @chun_hua_catherine_dong | @spaocentre and @kodakgirls.ca.

What a great night at OAG! 💗
Check out some photo highlights from last night’s Fall Opening Reception. 👏 Thanks again to everyone that joined us. 😊

📸 @lindsayralph

Thanks for joining us tonight at OAG! 🎉 It was great to see everyone! 😊 #OAGFallExhibitionOpening2024

✨ OAG is open Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday: 10 AM – 6 PM | Thursday, Friday, Saturday: 10 AM – 9 PM and admission is always FREE.

🩷 Thank you to OAG’s ...funders: @canada.council @ontarioartscouncil and @cityofottawa

Merci d’avoir été des nôtres ce soir à la GAO ! 🎉 C’était merveilleux de se retrouver et de célébrer ensemble tout ce talent artistique ! 😊 #vernissageGAOautomne2024

✨ Visiter la GAO est toujours GRATUIT. Heures d’ouverture : dimanche, mardi et mercredi : de 10 h à 18 h | jeudi, vendredi, samedi : de 10 h à 21 h.

🩷 Merci aux bailleurs de fonds de la GAO : @conseilartscan, @conseilartsontario et @villedottawa

Visit oaggao.ca to learn more about OAG’s current exhibitions! 😍

✨ Stories My Father Couldn’t Tell Me: Jeff Thomas Origin | Level 3 - In partnership with @natgallerycan

✨ Olivia Johnston: Saints and Madonnas (Project X Award 2024) | Level 3 - In partnership with ...@spaocentre, @artsottawa and @centre_daimon

✨ Rachel Kalpana JAMES: Bright Oriental Star | Level 2

✨ Art + Parcel: A Holiday Sale | @oagshop_annexe | Level 1

Découvrez les expositions de la GAO ici : oaggao.ca ! 😍

✨ Les histoires que mon père n’a pu me conter. L’origine de Jeff Thomas | niveau 3 - En partenariat avec @mbacanada

✨ Olivia Johnston. Saints and Madonnas [Saintes et madones] (Le Prix Projet X 2024) | niveau 3
En partenariat avec @spaocentre, @artsottawa et @centre_daimon

✨ Rachel Kalpana JAMES. Lumineuse étoile de l’Orient | niveau 2

✨ Art emballant. Vente des Fêtes | @oagshop_annexe | niveau 1