VIDEO PORTRAITS Rita Letendre Video clips © CCCA & Linda Corbett_Eyeris Inc. 2008 Note: some videos may take 15-30 seconds to preload before playing. Les Automatistes Rita Letendre met the Automatistes when she attended one of their exhibitions. Initially caught by the colour and energy in the paintings, she quickly got to know the group of artists and showed with them in 1954. Although Letendre, “was more interested in art”, the Automatiste ideology and manifesto was a major influence on Québec politics and the Quiet Revolution of the 1960’s. running time: 3:36 start   Refus Global Refus Global was the manifesto of the Automatiste group of painters launched by writer, artist and activist Paul- Émile Borduas in 1942. Inspired by French Surrealism and and its theory of automatism, the group challenged the insular, authoritarian society of Québec in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Borduas’ “brilliant” mind had a definative influence on Rita and many other artists. Says Letendre, “You have to discover who you are, then be yourself, no matter what”. That was the legacy of Borduas. running time: 1:49 start   Essence Rita approaches her painting with “no pre-conceived idea” of the final image. Influenced by the Zen concept of living in the moment, she follows her instincts and lets, “the painting develop itself while its being done”. Using music to “cancel out” the world outside, she is not surprised to see the influence of composers and musicians like Wagner and Glenn Gould on her work. running time: 6:23 start   Murals Rita talks about her mural work including Sunforce, commissioned for the University of California, which has been carefully preserved and rennovated. Sadly, all of her Toronto projects including Irowakan, Royal Bank Plaza, the Glencairn Subway Station mural ceiling and the top of the Neill-Wycik Building have been destroyed. We get a sense of the majesty of these massive artworks, some of them 60 by 60 feet in size, from Rita’s archival photographs shown in this clip. running time: 6:18 start   Vibration Rita Letendre’s work captures the energy, colour and movement of the forces of nature. In this clip, Rita charts the evolution of her shapes and techniques in paintings from Arrêt (1965) to Undar (1977). running time: 2:30 start   Drawing Working in her Toronto studio, Rita shares her technique of working with oil pastel. running time: 1:45 start   Spirituelle Rita talks about how her personal beliefs are reflected in her artwork. A strong sense of the eternal quality of all things and a deep respect for the beauty of the universe forms the heart of her philosophy. Mankind’s struggle with good and evil, echos through all the world’s religions, but only nature is never cruel running time: 4:39 [in french only] start   Copyright ©1997, 2007, Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art. All rights reserved.