Frère Jérôme

Brother Jérôme’s contribution to the adventure of modern art in Quebec is often underestimated. There is nothing trivial about his career. Religious, painter and teacher, he met Paul-Émile Borduas in the 1940s, while he taught drawing and painting at Notre-Dame college. Brother Jérôme finds in Borduas’ thought an inexhaustible source of inspiration and motivation that will guide his action until the end of his life. If one considers his religious status and the social context of the time, his relationship with Borduas and the inspiration he derives from it seem unusual. His ideas and teaching methods are far from the conventions generally accepted in an institution like the one where he teaches. What is more, his position on the manifesto of the Global Refusal, which, let us not forget, is an unequivocal charge against ecclesiastical power, appears to be the most controversial testimony. However, despite his many differences of opinion with the members of his religious community — if he was sometimes marginalized within, he was never forbidden to express his ideas — and his fragile health which imposes on him periods of forced rest, Brother Jérôme pursues his artistic and educational activities with the same determination.